Putin snubs an offer from Erdogan to meet during climate talks in Paris after refusing to take his calls, and cancels a summit in December.
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Erdogan hailed the start of “a very different period” in relations between Turkey and Russian Federation, historic foes which have nevertheless built strong trade, energy and tourism ties in the post-Soviet era. The president said the visa issue with Moscow should also be resolved, saying it affected economic cooperation.
“After the press conference, we shall have an opportunity to speak to the heads of large companies from both Russian Federation and Turkey”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and Russian Federation can rebuild their damaged ties and make the two countries even closer after talks with Vladimir Putin.
Before leaving Turkey, Mr Erdogan referred to President Putin as his “friend” and said he wanted to open a new page in relations with Russian Federation.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a largely symbolic meeting created to unnerve western governments.
“As for restoring our relations to their full extent: do we want that?” Yes we do, and we will be doing just that.
Mr. Putin said their talks would cover “the whole range of our relations, including restoring economic ties, combating terrorism”.
In this regard, he said the sides chose to draft a mid-term program economic, technical and scientific cooperation for the next three years.
For months it seemed the bitterness between Putin and Erdogan would never heal: a battle of wills between two autocratic hardliners at odds over Syria.
In an interview with Haberturk television, Celik said asking Turkey to change its terrorism laws, a key demand from the European Union to finalize the visa-free travel, would mean endangering Europe’s own security.
On June 30, Russian Federation lifted a ban on tourist flights to Turkey following a phone conversation between Putin and Erdogan.
“Dear friends, ladies and gentelmen, I’d like to express my deep respect to president Putin”. “It is very important that business circles support us in that”. Turks were no longer allowed to travel to Russian Federation without a visa, and Turkish workers in the country were forced out.
The talks came at a moment when Turkey is “increasingly isolated regionally and globally”, said Fadi Hakura, Turkey specialist at the Chatham House think tank in London.
Only democratic means will make it possible to carry out transformations in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
“We intend to pay particular attention to increasing investments, trade flows, implementation of promising projects”, Putin said. “We also intend to promote cooperation in the area of defense industry and defense production”, he stressed.
Implementation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project in terms of gas supplies to Turkey has no doubts and it may start shortly, Russian President also said on Tuesday.
“Turkey needs to talk with Russian Federation on the security situation not only in Syria but also in the frozen conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan and finally, both Turkey and Russian Federation need economic cooperation on tourism, exports and imports and this is the real meat of today’s conversation”. “We hope that their restoration will help bring peace and stability in the region”, Erdogan reiterated”.
Mr 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.
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Vladimir Putin has confirmed, that the Syrian crisis will be discussed later. “We believe that the Syrian crisis can be resolved only through diplomatic desicion”, he noted.
