“Your visit today, despite the very hard political situation in Turkey, says that we all want to resume our dialogue, rapprochement in the interests of the peoples of Turkey and Russia”, Putin told Erdogan shortly after the Turkish president arrived in St. Petersburg for much anticipated talks.
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Putin, one of the first to call the Turkish leader to offer his support in the putsch’s aftermath, has positioned himself as a reliable ally even though ties between Moscow and Ankara were thrown into crisis by Turkey shooting down a Russian military jet near the Syrian border late past year.
Turkey downing a Russian jet that had allegedly strayed into Turkish territory last November only added to tensions.
After the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian jet that violated Turkish airspace over the Turkey-Syria border last November, relations between the two countries soured, until the issue seemed largely resolved on June 29 through a letter and subsequent telephone calls between the leaders.
Russian Federation is one of Turkey’s most important export markets, and a key supplier of energy.
“Erdogan has contrasted what Putin did in the aftermath of the attempted coup with the absence of similar moves from Western leaders”, Al Jazeera reported.
Now, following the failed coup attempt, analysts say ties between the two could deepen.
But the negotiations are likely to elevate concerns in the West over Turkey’s political direction as it employs increasingly authoritarian measures in the wake of the coup attempt.
On Tuesday, Mr Putin appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone, referring to “the tragic incident involving the death of our servicemen” during his opening remarks.
Syria is expected to be high on the agenda during the visit.
Moscow and Ankara largely disagree on Syria, as Turkey wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be ousted, while Russian Federation supports him and the Syrian army in their fight against the Islamic State militant group. But Turkey will not change its policies vis-à-vis Bashar Assad in Syria. I must admit that because of the Russian sanctions against Turkey in tourism, and fruit and vegetables exports the Turkish economy is in a very grave situation.
“In order to solve that, they need to bring their positions closer to Russian Federation”.
For his part Erdogan said that he hoped Russia-Turkish ties would become “more robust” and stressed how important it was that Putin offered his support after the coup.
Erdogan would seek to set out a new framework with Russian Federation to boost Turkey’s “quite diminished influence” in the conflict, said Hakura.
The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition welcomed the meeting.
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Mr Bozdag told the state-run Anadolu Agency that anti-American sentiment in Turkey is reaching “its peak” over the issue of cleric’s return, and risks turning into hatred.
