She recalled that the parties had failed to meet in the “Normandy format” in China, so her meetings with other leaders “were not strategic negotiations”. Erdogan met with Putin for the first time in months on August 9. That doesn’t mean they won’t seek to exploit any opportunity with the current one. Obama may seek information from Erdogan about Iranian intentions.
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Among other subjects touched upon by the two leaders, Peskov mentioned the possibility of dropping barriers to agricultural product imports from Turkey.
But then they got down to more thorny issues.
And that brings us to a related point that divides Obama from his G20 counterparts. The government respects that decision. It needs support from all of us, and we intend to provide it. Erdogan has just suffered an attempted coup in which the plotters tried to kill him.
Ankara accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of ordering the July 15 coup in Turkey, during which a group within the military tried to remove Erdogan from power.
Madsen anticipated that “as long as the Turkish army has its military forces in Syria and [they] are acting as proxies for the Pentagon, the USA sees no need to come to a ceasefire”. He blames the United States for the color revolutions of 2003 and 2004 in Georgia and Ukraine; and in 2011, he accused Hillary Clinton of encouraging demonstrations in Russian Federation. “But Turkey is the more important ally”.
Turkey and Russian Federation have a long history of mutual antagonism and distrust. Turkish media have in the past alleged that the Gulenists are a CIA-created movement.
“We’re also setting the stage so that the next United States administration comes in with a relationship that is on a strong and productive footing”, Obama told Xi.
The two countries should push for broader cooperation in trade, investment, finance, energy and technology, to benefit both countries, Putin said.
Obama was beginning his day of talks as his Secretary of State John Kerry was working to reach a deal on ending violence in Syria.
Obama also thanked Erdogan and the Turkish people for their efforts to defeat ISIS and their humanitarian efforts in response to the years-long civil war in neighboring Syria.
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“I believe we will be successful in this fight”, Erdogan underlined.
