Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday pledged to reinvigorate ties after their first meeting since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane last November.
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After a three-hour meeting at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, the two leaders said they were ready to rebuild the fractured relationship between their two countries.
The shooting down of the Russian jet led to a freeze in relations of the two countries, including economic sanctions and a bar on Russian tourism to Turkey, which thawed in June after Erdogan wrote to his counterpart and the two later spoke by telephone.
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.
Meanwhile, Erdogan expressed happiness over Russia’s high-level phone call after the failed coup attempt.
The Turkish president seemed more sanguine about the restoration of friendly relations with Russian Federation to their pre-November levels, notwithstanding differences between the two nations on several fronts, notably over Syria, Ukraine, Armenia and Cyprus.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Bild daily that he was not anxious about Russian Federation and Turkey improving ties.
TURKEY rebuilt bridges with Russian Federation yesterday as the rift with Washington widened over last month’s failed military coup.
“They have called – and we thank them for that – but after such a critical moment, is coming to Turkey so hard?”
Both men like to project themselves as a strong leaders, and Mr Erdogan is keen to reassert himself after surviving an attempted coup by some of his soldiers last month.
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. “I want to again say that it’s our principled position that we are always categorically against any attempts at unconstitutional actions”, said Mr Putin.
Erdogan’s visit is his first foreign trip since the abortive putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed.
Turkey has since requested Gulen’s extradition, however, the US says it is reviewing the request’s formality. “We’re seeing the results of that right now”.
She said that the USA expected all parties in Turkey such as the media, civil society and the government “to be responsible in their statements on this”.
Both countries are also key players in the war in Syria.
They also discussed the Syrian conflict. “We need to set up our own defense system and develop our own technology in cooperation with other countries”, Cavusoglu said. Indeed, on July 22 flights from Russian Federation to Turkey resumed. “Those objectives are mutually exclusive”, he said.
There is a potential for greater cooperation in targeting their common enemy, ISIS, and potentially working to limit some of the violence in northern Syria, he said.
“I think it is possible to align our views and approaches”, Putin told reporters.
The minister added that anti-US sentiment had reached its peak in Turkey over the Gulen issue and urged Washington to act before it became hatred. Kurds inside and outside Turkish borders have also squeezed Erdogan into repackaging his government as one that still has friends.
For Russia, fueling tensions within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance is squarely within its interests, says Alexander Shimulin, of the US-Canada Institute in Moscow.
Turkey is in complicated negotiations with the European Union over their deal in response to the migrant crisis.
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Visa-free travel to Russian Federation was canceled for Turks, and Turkish workers were asked to leave, their visas revoked.
