After calls this week by Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan for a “clean slate” in Turkish relations with Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin told Erdogan he hoped Ankara would be able to restore order following last month’s failed military coup.
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It will be the first time the two strongmen leaders have met since Turkish interceptors blasted a Russian warplane out of the skies over Syria in November. They also considered a shared investment fund to finance projects in third countries.
“It was very important from a mental perspective, this kind of psychological support”, Erdogan said at the news conference.
But both men expressed ambitions to take bilateral relations even further.
Although the meeting in St. Petersburg on Tuesday produced little beyond vows of friendship and cooperation, the symbolism of the two former antagonists coming together for a friendly talk had to be enough to raise alarms in Western capitals.
Speaking after the talks with Putin, Erdogan reaffirmed his claim that Gulen was behind the coup but didn’t touch on Ankara’s demand for his extradition.
The statement was likely to fan concerns over Turkey’s large-scale crackdown on followers of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, and raise questions over whether the government would start a witch-hunt based on an army of informants.
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.
Erdogan’s trip to Russian Federation comes as Turkey’s relations with Europe and the United States are strained by what Ankara sees as Western concern about how it handled the abortive coup, in which more than 240 people were killed.
Erdogan hailed the start of “a very different period” in relations between Turkey and Russian Federation, historic foes which have nevertheless built strong trade, energy, and tourism ties in the post-Soviet era. Russian Federation in December shelved talks on the planned link, with Gazprom PJSC, the world’s largest gas exporter, saying the route was still possible if political relations improved.
But after such a bitter dispute – which saw Putin accuse Erdogan of stabbing profiting from an illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group – it will take a lot for the pair to reheat relations.
Denmark’s ruling party has said, however, that the European Union should end accession negotiations with Turkey due to Mr Erdogan’s “undemocratic initiatives” and his support for reintroducing the death penalty.
“Yesterday’s meeting [between Russian and Turkish presidents] is part of a mutual effort to defrost relations”, Levin told Trend by email.
By contrast, he said, Turkey’s relationship with Russian Federation was “an alliance of convenience, not a strategic relationship”.
More than 270 people died during the failed coup attempt. “Syria’s unity can not be kept with Assad”.
In an interview broadcast by Russian state television on Monday, Erdogan called Assad a “killer” who shouldn’t be supported.
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He quickly rolled back a ban on the sale of package holidays to Turkey and signalled Moscow would end measures against Turkish food imports and construction firms.
