Relations between the two countries were badly damaged when Turkey shot down the military jet last November, leading Russia to impose trade sanctions and suspend Russian package tours to Turkey.
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Putin, after meeting with President Tayyip Erdogan, said the talks will have an important bearing on the future of Russia-Turkish relations.
The visit marked a first since last November when the crisis in relations between the countries started and is also Erdogan’s first foreign visit after a failed coup attempt in Turkey.
Erdogan said added that both Turkey and Russian Federation are determined to normalize ties and he believed relations between the two countries had strengthened and become more resistant to crisis.
Erdogan will not give up his opposition to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, but he may be open to discussion with Putin of a transition that removes the current regime while aiming to protect Russian and Turkish interests in the strategic country.
The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 over the Syrian border previous year saw a furious Mr Putin slap economic sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words that seemed to irrevocably damage burgeoning ties.
He said the visit of Erdogan, despite the hard political situation in Turkey caused by the failed coup attempt on July 15, showed that Ankara really wanted to restore bilateral cooperation.
Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives a self-exiled life in Pennsylvania, has been accused of ordering the failed military coup in Turkey which aimed to topple President Erdogan in mid-July.
Turkey and Russian Federation have reached a milestone in their relationship, with steps to normalize the ties between the two nations.
Moreover, more meetings would be held for major companies of the two countries to discuss revival of mutual trade, investment and implementation of key projects. But Erdogan’s cordial trip to Russian Federation, a nation at odds with the West on a host of issues from Syria to Ukraine, may give Turkey’s allies pause for thought.
Repeatedly calling Putin his “dear friend”, Erdogan says Turkey is ready to implement a natural gas pipeline project proposed by Moscow and a deal for Russian Federation to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
“If the U.S. does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist”, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara. He has demanded that the United States extradite a USA -based Turkish cleric who he says inspired the putsch.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Bild daily that he was not anxious about Russian Federation and Turkey improving ties.
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The deal also promised Turkey billions in funding as well as various political concessions, including visa-free travel for Turks in Europe.
