“Your visit means that all of us want the dialogue to be resumed”, Putin said, the BBC reported. The Turkish leader also said he is ready to build a natural gas pipeline with Russian Federation and negotiate a deal to construct Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
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Putin, in turn, expects Turkey to become more accommodating of Russia’s interests in Syria and move faster on major energy projects – demands Ankara could find hard to meet.
HECY: Maybe they can minimize frictions between Turkey and Russian Federation…
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and other leaders should do what they can to resist this trend through seeking to improve US bilateral relations with both countries.
Mr Putin, one of the first foreign leaders to phone Mr Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt, shares none of the scruples of European Union leaders about the ensuing crackdown.
The meeting Tuesday between the leaders takes place at a time of shifting relations with the West.
Erodgan was livid after Western nations that condemned the coup attempt last month also criticized him over his massive crackdown in response to the putsch.
Following the coup, 16,000 people have been formally arrested awaiting trial, while a further 6,000 detainees are still being processed and more than 7,000 remain under investigation, according to Turksih authorities.
Speaking after the talks with Putin, Erdogan reiterated his contention that Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric in self-imposed exile in the United States, was behind the failed insurrection and alleged that the coup plotters were also responsible for the crisis in relations with Russian Federation.
If the Russian president seemed eager to rejuvenate bilateral relations, Erdogan appeared more so, repeatedly calling Putin his “dear friend”.
He said that there was a positive approach towards this issue in Azerbaijan.
But he also said that he wanted to expand relations with Turkey, perhaps in reference to Moscow’s efforts to eradicate Islamic extremist forces in Syria and Iraq. “Now it’s very important (for Russia) to turn this country which was the spearhead of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation against the Soviet Union in the past, and where so many intelligence assets or radars had been placed to monitor Russian military activity, to draw it back to Russia and to resume good relations”, says Mizin. One is that Turkey would like to have Moscow have less of its relationship with the Kurds. Turkey has been a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member since 1952.
“He expressed support for the elected government of Turkey and respect for the courage of the Turkish people”, she noted. He also promises to gradually lift an embargo on imports of Turkish agricultural products and other restrictions.
Though the meeting between the two leaders had been in the making for months – facilitated by the Turkish businessman Cavit Çağlar and mediation from the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaiev – the fact remains that it was Erdogan’s first visit overseas since the failed coup in mid-July, when Putin and Nazarbaiev both expressed their support for Erdogan before his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies.
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Erdogan said he wanted to see the TurkStream project “done as fast as possible”, while Putin said construction could start “in the nearest future” and that the restoration of business ties would be done “in phases”.
