Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced "sadness" on Saturday over the shooting down of a Russian jet by Turkish forces, saying that he wished the incident had not happened.<br />However he continues to defend Turkey's actions.<br />"We wish it hadn't happened, but it happened.<br />I hope something like this doesn't happen again," Erdogan said.<br />The Turkish president said both sides must approach the issue in a more positive way.<br />Erdogan nevertheless has said he wants a direct meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when the two leaders are in Paris next week for the UN climate summit.<br />So far Moscow has officially only responded coolly, saying Turkey has yet to apologize for shooting down the jet on the Syrian border.
