Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım celebrated their Russian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev for the Russia Day — which is celebrated as a national holiday of the Russian Federation annually on June 12 since 1992 – by sending letters.
Russia Day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on June 12, 1990.
“On behalf of Turkish people, I celebrate the National Day of Russian people. Moreover, I hope that the relations between Russia and Turkey reach the level that it deserves in the near future,” Erdoğan said in the letter he sent to Putin.
Stating a similar wish in his letter to Medvedev, Yıldırım said: “I hope that the cooperation and relations between our countries reach the level necessary for the common goals of our people soon. I wish health and prosperity for all the Russians on behalf of you.”
On Nov. 24, Turkish F-16s had downed a Russian jet. One of the Russian pilots and a Russian soldier, who attended the rescue operation for pilots, had died.
The incident had sparked diplomatic and economic crises between the two countries.
Erdoğan said on May 31 that the downing of a Russian jet by Turkish F-16s in November 2015 on the grounds that it violated Turkish airspace, was Russian pilot’s mistake.