“If the USA does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist”, Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara. Gulen denies the claims.
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Bozdag added that anti-US sentiment in Turkey had reached new highs, and urged Washington to act before it deteriorated into hatred.
It is their first face-to-face talks since relations soured last November when Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border.
The visit is also Erdogan’s first foreign trip since the failed putsch against him.
“Your visit today, despite a very hard situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russian Federation and Turkey”, Putin said as the two met in Saint Petersburg.
Erdogan also mentioned that Putin was one of the first world leaders to call him after the attempted coup on July 15 to express his support, which Erdogan said “gladdened me, my colleagues and our people”.
However, there has been a thaw in relations in recent months, with Mr Putin accepting a personal expression of regret by Mr Erdogan over the incident as an apology.
“A new page will be opened in Russo-Turkish ties”.
But after such a bitter dispute – which saw Putin accuse Erdogan of stabbing Russian Federation in the back and profiting from an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group – it will take a lot for the pair to reheat relations.
The presidents of Turkey and Russian Federation met in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, after months of enmity between their two countries.
“Russia is a main, key and very important player in establishing peace in Syria”, Erdogan said in comments translated into Russian.
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Yet before the plane downing crisis, Moscow and Ankara managed to prevent disputes on Syria and Ukraine harming strategic cooperation on issues like the TurkStream gas pipeline to Europe and a Russian-built nuclear power station in Turkey.
