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Ankara Arrests Pilots Behind Shootdown of Russian Bomber

The Turkish authrorities have arrested two pilots who reportedly participated in the shootdown of a Russian bomber at the end of last year, the RBC news agency reported.

On July 16, Ankara's Mayor, Melih Gökçek said on a CNN Turk broadcast that the pilots were involved in the military coup at the end of last week.

Gökçek also blames the participants for the deterioration in Russian-Turkish relations.

On Nov 24, 2015 a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian SU-24 over the Turkish-Syrian border. In the aftermath of the event the pilot, Oleg Peshkov, died. He managed to deploy his parachute but was shot from the ground.

Russia demanded an apology from Turkey but they only received it six months later.

At the end of June Turkish President Recep Erdogan apologized for the shooting down of the plane and gave his condolences to the family of the dead pilot.



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