ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkey could impose retaliatory measures against Russia if necessary, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday.
"If we find it necessary, we will introduce retaliatory sanctions, this issue was discussed at a government meeting on Monday. But we hope that the crisis with Russia will be overcome and there will be no need to resort to these measures," Davutoglu said at a party meeting.
Russian-Turkish relations have been strained by Ankara’s decision to shoot down a Russian frontline bomber over Syria on November 24, which lead to the death of a pilot.
The move to slap Ankara with restrictive measures was approved by the Russian government and came into force in December. Russia banned several Turkish food and agriculture imports, and suspended charter flights to Turkey, advising Russian travel agencies not to sell package tours to the country over security concerns.