Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Konstantin palace outside St.Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
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Erdogan said the two countries will restore their yearly bilaterial trade target of $100 billion and will speed up the resumption of charter flights from Russian Federation to Turkey.
Erdogan’s visit to Putin’s hometown of St Petersburg is also his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey’s relations with the West. It was a front-line North Atlantic Treaty Organisation state against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Trade embargoes Mr Putin reacted furiously when the Turkish military shot down the Russian fighter, imposing various embargoes on trade with Turkey, covering tourism, construction and food exports to Russia.
“Do we want a full-spectrum restoration of relations?” The two leaders will also hold a joint news conference.
Repeatedly calling Putin his “dear friend”, Erdogan said Turkey is ready to implement a natural gas pipeline project proposed by Moscow and a deal for Russian Federation to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
For Russia, fueling tensions within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance is squarely within its interests, says Alexander Shimulin, of the US-Canada Institute in Moscow.
The two strongmen leaders conspicuously skirted one major issue dividing them and that lay at the heart of their falling out – the war in Syria. More than 240 people were killed, many of them civilians.
“We will boost closer ties in the defense industry together with Russian Federation”, said Erdoğan, adding that both sides would also accelerate works to establish a joint investment fund.
It comes less than a month after the failed military coup in Turkey. -Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying Washington could have been behind the coup.
Turkey has launched a series of mass purges of suspected Gulen supporters in its armed forces, other state institutions, universities, schools and the media, prompting Western worries for the stability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally. Tuesday’s meeting will give him the opportunity to send a signal to the West that Turkey is willing to court Moscow, traditionally the counterweight to Western influence in the Middle East. Gulen, whose followers in the security forces, judiciary and civil service Erdogan accuses of orchestrating the attempted power grab, denies any connection to the plot.
The Turkish Stream pipeline is meant to deliver gas from the Russian Black Sea coast to Turkey and on to Greece.
“This sort of conspiracy theory, inflammatory rhetoric.is absolutely not helpful”, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. “We feel the sincerity of our Turkish friends and want to do this”.
Following the plane’s downing, Russian Federation initiated economic sanctions, deported Turks, ended flights to Turkey and waged an information war via state-run media against Ankara.
Erdogan said that Turkey was entering a “very different period” in relations with Russian Federation, and that solidarity between the two countries would help the resolution of regional problems.
Putin told Erdogan that he hoped Ankara could fully restore order after the failed coup, saying Moscow always opposed unconstitutional actions.
The Turkish president thanked his Russian counterpart for arranging the meeting.
“The Western world must show solidarity with Turkey, which has adopted its democratic values”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Turkish Stream pipeline is going ahead and will be implemented swiftly.
Aleppo is the most important battleground for Turkey, because of its proximity and its historic ties.
On the other hand, Russia, despite its animosity with Turkey, was the first to condemn the coup.
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The two sides also chose to continue with Turkey’s first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu.
