On August 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for the first time today after Turkish Air Force downed a Su-24 bomber that took part in the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces’ counter-terrorist operation in Syria on 24 November 2015. They also held a separate meeting to discuss the conflict in Syria – despite their divergent views.
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Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “Unfortunately the European Union is making some serious mistakes. We worked very hard to have good relations with Europe for 15 years”, he said, warning that any deterioration in ties would not be Turkey’s fault.
He said Turkey was building a “strong mechanism” with Russian Federation to find a solution in Syria, and a delegation including the foreign ministry, military and intelligence officials would go to Russian Federation on Wednesday for talks. Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey says he is a dictator who must be removed.
“On Syria, we think the same on the issue of a cease-fire, on humanitarian aid and a political solution”, the minister said. “We may have a different outlook on how the cease-fire should be implemented”. We don’t believe it is appropriate that the moderate opposition is attacked.
Turkey is pressing the United States to extradite US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom it accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt, and has expressed frustration at its slow response.
Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara it was normal for Turkey to seek “other options” on defense cooperation as it had not received the expected support from its western friends and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies following the failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement.
There have been reports in Turkish media of possible North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and USA intelligence involvement in the failed June 15 coup. -Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying Washington could have been behind the coup.
He expressed support for the elected government of Turkey and respect for the courage of the Turkish people.
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As part of the agreement, reached earlier this year, the European Union insisted Ankara must meet 72 basic conditions in order to win visa-free access for its 80 million citizens to the Schengen zone. “We are doing it for our own interests and for the interests of the region”.
