Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that the two nations can rebuild their damaged ties and make them even closer.
Advertisement
European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker has reiterated several times in recent days that Turkey must comply with the terms of agreements it has signed, said spokesperson Mina Andreeva on Tuesday.
Turkey has been incensed by what it sees as Western concern over a post-coup crackdown but indifference to the bloody putsch itself, in which rogue soldiers bombed parliament and seized bridges with tanks and helicopters.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressed the United States to extradite the man he claims was behind the failed insurrection, and has sought more funds and visa-free travel from the European Union, but it’s unclear what leverage improved ties with Russian Federation could give him.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute, said Erdogan may also be seeking for Putin to use his influence in Central Asian republics where the Gulen movement has roots to crack down on the network there.
Turkey blames followers of US -based exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen for the attempted coup.
The leaders will also reportedly discuss the Syrian war, which experts say will be hard, considering that Russian Federation and Turkey lie on opposite sides of the conflict.
Work on the first section of the pipeline, between Russia and Turkey, will be finished in the second half of 2019, Russian energy minister Aleksandr Novak said.
Both leaders have built a “personalized and authoritarian style of governance”, according to Asli Aydintasbas, an expert on Turkish foreign policy at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “The problem needs to be solved with the help of joint steps between Russian Federation and Turkey”.
Russia and Turkey have a common goal of resolving the crisis in Syria and it is possible to resolve differences on how to handle it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
At the time of the jet downing, Mr Putin branded it a “stab in the back” committed by “accomplices of terrorists”.
But Putin in June said Erdogan had sent a letter expressing his regret over the incident and announced a rollback of some of the sanctions.
But Putin accepted the apology, and appeared to signal a detente.
Erdogan emphasized that pledge of support, saying “it was very important for us psychologically”.
“I would like to remind you of our principal attitude”.
Erdogan has said he would approve the return of capital punishment if Turkey’s parliament backed it.
Russian Federation demanded apologies and compensations for the downed jet as well as punishment for those guilty.
They were also expected to discuss Syria, a conflict where the two countries find themselves on opposing sides, with Moscow backing President Bashar al-Assad and Ankara wanting him out of power. Opening Russian market to Turkish goods Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said the Russian market could be open for Turkish food and imports by the end of this year.
Advertisement
Cunningham reported from Istanbul.
