| Not as sad as he's gonna be... |
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
on Saturday expressed "sadness" over
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's downing of a Russian warplane that has severely strained relations, saying he wished the incident had never happened.
In his most conciliatory comments yet after Tuesday's incident, Erdogan said: "I'm really saddened by the incident. We wish it had never happened, but it happened. I hope something like this doesn't happen again.
"We hope that the issue between us and Russia does not escalate any further, become corrosive and have dire consequences in the future," Erdogan told supporters in western Balikesir province.
Erdogan also renewed a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...for a face-to-face meeting in Gay Paree on the sidelines of the Global Climate Summit on Monday, saying it would be an opportunity to restore relations.
"What we tell Russia is 'Let's resolve this issue between ourselves and within its boundaries. Let's not make others happy by destroying our whole relationship," Erdogan said.
"Russia is important for Turkey as much as Turkey is important for Russia. Both countries cannot afford to give up on each other."
Putin, who has branded the incident a "stab in the back", is yet to agree to talks.
The plane incident, one of the most serious festivities between a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
member and Russia, has drawn a harsh response from Moscow.
Russia announced it was halting a visa-free regime for Turkish visitors, after threatening a raft of retaliatory economic measures to punish the NATO member state.