The Turkish leader also insisted the two sides were once again targeting an ambitious trade turnover of $100 billion by 2024.
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Kalin said the shooting down of a Russian jet for violating Turkish airspace near the Turkey-Syria border last November had upset both countries.
Mr Putin said Russian Federation would lift economic sanctions from Turkey and seek a “common approach” with Ankara to a Syrian conflict on which their positions have clashed. The visit is being closely watched in the West, where some fear both men might use their rapprochement to exert pressure on Washington and the European Union and stir tensions within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the military alliance of which Turkey is a member.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The organization said it was was responding to “speculative press reports regarding NATO’s stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation membership”.
Energy cooperation, and in particular the Turkish Stream pipeline project, and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project in Turkey are other topics of critical importance expected to be discussed at the meeting.
Many Turks believed their allies in the West had failed to condemn to coup attempt harshly enough, and were too critical of the mass arrests.
An employee of a flag-making factory folds a Russian flag as a Turkish flag adorns the display at left, in Istanbul, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
About the lingering Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Kalın said that a trilateral mechanism between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russian Federation was established, which he deemed an essential step in resolving the issue.
His visit to Moscow marked full restoration of relations after last year’s Turkish shootdown of a Russian warplane operating over Syria. Turkey has demanded the USA extradite Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen, now living in Pennsylvania, whom the Turks say is responsible for the failed coup.
Moskovskij Komsomolets wrote the “black days” between Russian Federation and Turkey had ended.
Erdogan has also expressed resentment toward Western allies that have cautioned against the mass detentions and firings of alleged Gulen supporters in Turkey since the coup attempt.
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If the two countries bridge their differences over Syria, they might hold the key to the end of the savage war in this Arab country that has seen so much death and destruction in the five and a half years of vicious civil strife.
