Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to discuss issues of rendering assistance to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Baku, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour said in an interview with RIA Novosti. He has also demanded Gulen’s extradition.
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On June 30, Russian Federation lifted a ban on tourist flights to Turkey following a phone conversation between Putin and Erdogan.
“This will be a historic visit, a new beginning”. In the talks with my friend Vladimir, I believe, a new page in our relations will be turned. “Only in cooperation with Russian Federation can we regulate the crisis in Syria”, Erdogan said, months after he accused Russian Federation of seeking to prop up “a boutique state” led by brutal Moscow-ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
However, some fundamental differences remain. “Only in partnership with Russian Federation will we be able to settle the crisis in Syria”.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara released a statement on Twitter denying a media report that Ambassador John Bass had met with a coup plotter on July 14, a day before the attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Currently, the controversial preacher lives in the U.S., after he self-imposed exile in 1999. Washington has asked for evidence of the cleric’s involvement and says the extradition process must be allowed to take its course.
On Sunday, Turkey held a mass rally in Istanbul to denounce the attempted coup, which two main opposition party leaders attended in a show of unity.
The scope of the crackdown has alarmed European countries and rights groups, which have urged restraint. Ankara has complained the West has shown a lack of support for a democratically elected government which survived a violent attempt to overthrow it, and Turkish officials have publicly traded barbs with Germany, Austria and Italy as well as the European Union. Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to phone Erdogan offering support and, unsurprisingly, sharing none of the scruples of European Union leaders about the ensuing crackdown.
But the post-coup crackdown has further delayed the visa-free travel threatening the entire deal.
Turkish government sources said five million people had attended, with the event broadcast live on public screens at smaller rallies across Turkey’s provinces.
According to Russian media outlets, Turkey-Russia economic and political relations and the Syrian war will be the key topics to dominate the visit. “There is now a new Turkey after July 15”.
The website of Sputnik’s Turkish bureau was blocked on April 14 by Turkey’s Department of Telecommunications and Communication (TIB).
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Ushakov told reporters the two weren’t expected to sign any agreements, but he underlined the importance of the talks. It was the first time in decades that opposition leaders joined a rally in support of the government, with pockets of secularists, nationalists and others alongside his core Islamist supporters. Turkey has yet to compensate Russian Federation for the downed Su-24 jet and this issue is expected to be discussed at the upcoming meeting among other issues.
