Turkey deputy PM says believes ties with Russian Federation will be mended shortly

Recep Tayyip Erdogan "should think twice before saying, as some of his ministers have said, that the deal is not feasible", Juncker said a day after Turkey's top diplomat warned the agreement would be over if European Union didn't make good on a visa waiver pledge.

Turkish officials' remarks came over Putin's recent statement that his country was ready to enhance relations with Turkey, if Ankara "takes the first step".

The relations between Russia and Turkey became tense in 2015 when Turkish air forces downed the Russian Su-24 plane.

"Neither Russia nor Turkey can afford to sacrifice their relationship with each other", Kurtulmus, the government's official spokesman, told a news conference. "We also want to restore relations".

He added that in any case Turkey will revise the cooperation formats with the West which are directed against Russian Federation.

To boost talks, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that "it was decided that our European Union minister travels to Brussels in the coming days".

Podyelyshev also declared that the two countries should be able to reach a mutual understanding, and noted how Russia's President Vladimir Putin recently stated that Moscow expects certain concrete steps from Ankara to be made in resolving the crisis. These two countries have no problems that can not be overcome. Turkey did not recognize the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 2014 and has repeatedly accused Moscow of supporting the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

"Turkey did not take part blatantly in this jet's being shot down".

There have been growing concerns that Turkish nationals will not be given visa-free travel by the end of June, the target date, putting the future of the migrant deal at risk. Moreover, Russia called its citizens to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination.

Relations between Ankara and Moscow hit their worst point in recent memory after Turkey shot down the Russian plane over Syria previous year, prompting a raft of sanctions from Russia.

Source: Turkey deputy PM says believes ties with Russian Federation will be mended shortly