Body of killed pilot to be delivered to Russia amid continued tension

The body of the pilot of the Russian jet downed last week by Turkey was delivered to Turkish authorities after midnight on Saturday and will be handed over to Russia, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.
A Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) officer and the Russian military attaché retrieved the body of the pilot in the border province of Hatay on Sunday, before it was taken to Ankara in a Turkish military cargo plane in the afternoon.
“The Russian pilot was handed over to us at our border [with Syria] at 1:45 a.m. last night,” Davutoğlu told reporters on Sunday morning before leaving for Brussels for an EU-Turkey summit.
A Turkish F-16 shot down the Russian SU-24 near the Turkish border in Syria last Tuesday, as the Russian jet violated Turkish air space despite several warnings.
The downing of the jet has severed relations between Turkey and Russia.
Turkey made a request for the body in an effort to return it to Moscow, the Turkish prime minister said.
The Russian pilot, who managed to eject himself out of the plane after having been hit by a missile, was probably killed by gunfire from Turkmen rebels in Syria, whom the Russian jets were bombing.
It is estimated that it was Turkmen rebels who handed the body over to Turkey, who openly support rebel groups other than radical ones that have been fighting against the Syrian government.
In an apparent bid to ease the increasing tension with Russia, Davutoğlu underlined that Turkey downed the jet to protect its air space and that Russia was in no way targeted in this act.
“This [incident] would not have taken place if the warnings issued again and again had been taken into consideration,” Davutoğlu said.
Davutoğlu also added: “Our first priority is to keep the channels of communication with Russia open. The second is establishing coordination and communication regarding flights in Syria.”
Davutoğlu dismissed Russian efforts to pin the blame on Turkey, saying it is legitimate for Turkey to shoot down a plane violating its air space.
Turkey cannot allow its air space to be violated continuously, he noted drawing attention to the fact that Russian jets had previously violated Turkish air space on the Syrian border several times, including twice in October.
The Russian jet, which landed on the Syrian side of the border, violated Turkish air space over Hatay for 17 seconds, according to Turkish authorities.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recently rejected Russia’s demand that Turkey apologize, has said the two leaders could use the UN climate summit, which will begin on Monday, as an opportunity to mend ties.
Calling on Russia to settle the issue, Erdoğan said during a rally in the province of Balıkesir on Saturday that other countries would be pleased at seeing the two on bad terms.
He said, “Let’s not make anybody happy by taking the issue to a level where all our relations would be harmed.”
Underlining the importance the two countries have for each other, Erdoğan added, “Neither country has the luxury of sacrificing the other.”