Turkey will continue fighting whatever powers seek to undermine the government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Sunday as he addressed a massive flag-waving rally in Istanbul in the wake of the country’s abortive July 15 coup. He also promised to gradually lift an embargo on imports of Turkish agricultural products and other restrictions.
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Erdogan in June sent a letter to Putin with a long-anticipated apology for Turkey’s downing of the jet, setting the scene for the meeting Tuesday at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg.
“Your visit today, which you made despite the really complex domestic political situation in Turkey, shows we all want to restart our dialogue and restore our relations”, said Putin, addressing Erdogan.
Putin said he hoped Erdogan would be able to restore order in Turkey after the coup and stressed his wish to restore good bilateral relations, which were harmed by Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November.
“For decades, Turkey has joined forces with the West, with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with Europe and the United States”.
Turkish authorities have said the country’s intelligence service has cracked into several smartphone messaging apps that Gulen’s followers used to communicate with each other in the years ahead of the coup attempt and was able to trace tens of thousands of people from the group.
The dispute has strained U.S.
Erdogan added that he hopes to turn “a new page” in Russo-Turkish ties.
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. Turkey has been holding nearly daily mass rallies since July 15 in support of democracy and the government and against the plotters. Since then, about 18,000 people have been detained or arrested and almost 70,000 people suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from the civil service, judiciary, education, health care and the military.
Senior German officials say a thaw in relations between Turkey and Russian Federation is a welcome development, and they don’t see a danger of Turkey turning away from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
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Putin responded in kind, saying that “higher interests of our peoples, our nations require the restoration of our relations”.
