Kazakh President calls on Russia and Turkey to restore relations

In his state of the nation address the Kazakh leader made an appeal to Moscow and Ankara to jointly investigate the incident, find those behind the downing and restore bilateral relations. "We are deeply saddened by this incident. In fact, the Russian bomber didn't attack Turkey, it was on its way to fight terrorists. Turkey and Russia should remain friends and close allies in this fight [against terrorism]," the President said, urging the sides to find common ground and not to ruin the long-standing friendship between the Russian and Turkish people. The Head of State highlighted the need to establish the Russia-Turkey intergovernmental commission to investigate the incident. "Since 1990s I have worked tirelessly to bring Russia and Turkey together. I once again call on our friends in Russia and in Turkey to restore relations," Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed.