Turkish President, Erdogan, Has Apologized by Saying He is 'sorry' for Downing Russian jet

Putin and Erdogan

Kremlin spokesperson said, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey formally apologized Russian President, Vladimire Putin for the downing of Russian's military jet near the country's border with Syria last year, saying there was no deliberate intention in carrying out the attack.

According to Dmitry Peskov on Monday told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin received a message from Erdogan expressing his "sympathy and deep condolences" to the family of the pilot that was killed, and "asked to be forgiven".

Turkish president, Erdogan, also assured that he would do  "everything possible" to restore relation with Russia.

A statement that was released by Kremlin citing Erdogan as saying Ankara "never had the desire and the intention" to down the Russian jet.

Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's spokesman, confirmed that the Turkish leader sent the letter saying he was "sorry" for the incident.

Turkey had not previously apologized for the November 2015 incident, which killed one Russian pilot and triggered a diplomatic row between Ankara and Moscow.

Some of the Images of the military that was down by Turkey in November 2015

According to reports from Moscow, which is insinuating there were "geopolitical calculations" involved in Erdogan's decision.

Challands said it was likely that Erdogan thought "that the benefits of normalising relations with Russia, outweighs the humiliation of saying sorry".

Russia has been carrying out operations against rebels in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey had insisted that the Sukhoi SU-24 jet was shot down for alleged airspace violation. Reports said the plane then crashed in Syrian territory near Latakia.

The Russians responded to the incident by halting package tours to Turkey and banning most agricultural imports from Turkey.

On Monday, the Russian television RT reported that Turkey has also reopened a probe into the suspected "killer" of the Russian pilot.

In Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on national television on Monday that the government will soon announce that progress has been achieved in its rapprochement with Russia.

"There are excellent results, we will share information about them in the near future,” Yildirim said.