Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at St. Petersburg on Tuesday as a sign of renewed relations between the two countries after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane that strayed on the borders of Syria and Turkish airspace previous year. In November, Turkish aircraft shot down a Russian fighter jet along the border with Syria, sparking a crisis in ties with Moscow and strong expressions of support from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
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Turkey and Iran have close economic ties.
According to CBC News, foreign affairs analyst Tony Brenton said that the West should not be surprised with the steps taken by the two countries as worldwide relations remain to be “a pretty pragmatic business”. “We have to fight against Daesh altogether”, Cavusoglu told private broadcaster NTV, using the Arabic acronymn for IS.
He also pointed out that Turkey and Russian Federation have a common position on the issue of Syria’s territorial integrity.
Mr Cavusoglu’s made the sensational allegation as he announced a delegation of Foreign Ministry, military and intelligence officials were heading to Russian Federation for talks on the West’s backing for Syrian rebels.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey was long criticised by its Western partners for not playing a full role in the fight against ISIS but upped its involvement past year by offering U.S. forces use of an air base for raids against the group.
The three-person Turkish delegation in Moscow, made up of representatives from the military, intelligence and foreign service, is tasked with implementing decisions.
“Meanwhile, it is necessary to take into account the presence of the moderate opposition in Syria”, said Cavusoglu, Trend reports.
Following the Tuesday meeting, Putin announced that Russian Federation would begin rolling back sanctions and restarting energy projects, including a stalled nuclear plant and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline from southern Russian Federation to the Black Sea.
The official also said Turkey’s military attache in Bosnia was missing, but the embassy there denied this and said he had not been recalled.
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The purge has come in for criticism from Western governments, further straining relations with Turkey in the wake of the attempted coup, which claimed 239 lives and injured almost 2,200. A senior government official said Thursday that 35,000 people had been detained for questioning, of which 17,740 were formally arrested to face trial.
