In November 2015, a Russian pilot died when his plane was shot down over Syria by a Turkish fighter.
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Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said past year it was “practically impossible for us to reach agreement with Turkey’s current leadership”, after an act that suggested Ankara had “decided to lick the Americans in a certain place”.
The leaders of Russian Federation and Turkey have patched up a damaging quarrel, pledging to restore close economic relations. I believe we have a lot to do as two important actors in all areas, including cultural, trade, political, military, economy. But Turkey, post-coup, is realigning, and as tensions with the West soar, Erdogan has shown a desire to mend fences with Russian Federation, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In June, Erdogan sent a much-anticipated letter of apology to Putin.
The visit to St Petersburg by Mr Erdogan is his first foreign trip since last month’s failed coup against him that has triggered mass purges and frayed relations with the West.
So what are the issues at play in the rekindled relationship? This gives Erdogan more reason for rapprochement with Russian Federation. The normalization of ties clears the way for progress on major energy infrastructure projects – such as Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, to be built with Russian involvement, and a major natural gas pipeline from southern Russia to Turkey.
The US Justice Department is still reviewing the documents that Ankara submitted to see if they meet the criteria for a formal extradition request, the State Department said late Thursday.
According to Turkish authorities, so far 16,000 people have been formally arrested awaiting trial, while a further 6,000 detainees are still being processed and more than 7,000 remain under investigation.
Ties have been strained over disagreements on Syria, Kurdish forces, and especially after the July 15 attempted coup, which Erdogan blames the US-based cleric – and his one-time ally – Fethullah Gulen for orchestrating.
Erdogan’s meeting with Putin was only his second with a foreign head of state since the coup, following a visit to Ankara by the Kazakh president on Friday. Turkey is pressing the U.S. to extradite him to Turkey.
Russian Federation is a main, key and very important player in establishing peace in Syria.
Putin responded in kind, saying that “higher interests of our peoples, our nations require the restoration of our ties”. This could undermine not only Washington’s military encirclement of Russian Federation, but also its attempt to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. “Those objectives are mutually exclusive”, he said.
Turkey was also angered by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, accusing Moscow of violating the rights of Crimean Tatars.
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”, he concluded.
Erdogan, in his opening remarks, thanked Putin twice for inviting him to Russian Federation and said the cooperation between the two countries should benefit the entire region. He also promises to gradually lift an embargo on imports of Turkish agricultural products and other restrictions. Progress there is likely to be more halting, with Moscow backing President Bashar al-Assad and Ankara wanting him out of power.
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Turkey is in complicated negotiations with the European Union over their deal in response to the migrant crisis. The Muslim Tatars have long had close ties to Turkey.
