AKIPRESS.COM - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting with local officials in Ankara said Turkey was not an enemy of Russia and the Russian people.

He said is sorry that "Russia has lost a friend like Turkey because of two pilots." "For a country that accepts four million tourists from Russia - this is impossible. Our trade reached $35 billion, and we wanted to take this figure to 100 billion. It's a pity that Russia has lost a friend like Turkey because of two pilots," Erdogan told the heads of local administrations in Ankara, RIA Novosti reports.

The tensions between Russia and Turkey started escalated since November, when Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 aircraft at the Turkish-Syria border area. Turkey stated the plane had crossed into its airspace, Russia disputed this.