Earlier, at a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Vladimir Putin noted that “over the course of the negotiations, an issue of the lifting of restrictions on involvement of Turkey’s citizens and companies in implementation of construction contracts has been raised”.
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Putin then offered Erdogan moral support over last month’s failed military coup. We are against all attempts that are against the constitution.
“We believe the Russian-Turkish relation is much more stable than it has ever been, which will help us to confront all kinds of crises”, said Erdogan.
Putin said he and Erdogan would have a separate discussion on Syria later Tuesday involving top diplomats and intelligence officials. Mr Putin had said that his country’s “principled position” was to be “categorically against any attempts at unconstitutional actions”. “I hope under your management the Turkish people will overcome this problem”.
Erdogan’s visit to Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg was his first foreign trip since the failed coup against him last month that sparked a purge of opponents and cast a shadow over Turkey’s relations with the West.
After a three-hour meeting at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, the two leaders said they were ready to rebuild the fractured relationship between their two countries.
Relations between the two countries began to thaw in late June after Erdogan sent an apology letter to the Kremlin. “So this is why Erdogan has probably shifted to Russian Federation to get much more support from Putin”.
The Turkish leader also insisted that the two sides were once again targeting a very ambitious trade turnover of $100 billion by 2024. EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik told Habertturk on Tuesday that there was no Turkish “shift of axis” in Ankara’s foreign policy.
Turkey hosts American troops and warplanes at its Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the US -led fight against Islamic State militants in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
“Our leader, considering Kazakhstan’s close relations with both Russia and Turkey and his good relations with the Russian and Turkish leaders, or course, used this to contribute in some way to improving relations between Russia and Turkey after the famous incident with the warplane”, he added. One of the two pilots was killed, as was a marine who took part in a rescue operation.
“Tourist charter flights to Turkey stopped, Russian visitor numbers fell by 87 percent”. “Vladimir Putin hasn’t got involved”. “I think it is possible to align our views and approaches”, he said.
Moskovskij Komsomolets wrote the “black days” between Russian Federation and Turkey had ended.
“It is good that after the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet by Turkey past year, there is a rapprochement”, he said.
Relations between Turkey and Russian Federation – two powers vying for influence in the strategic Black Sea region and Middle East – have always been complicated.
Regarding the long-awaited missile defense system, Cavusoglu said that Turkey first sought cooperation with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries; however, so far the results were unsatisfactory.
Although he believes that the thaw in Moscow-Ankara relations won’t significantly affect Turkey’s policy toward the USA and the European Union, he is confident that Ankara will change its strategy in the Syrian crisis. American officials have said this can not happen without proper evidence being presented.
“There is a serious anti-American feeling in Turkey, and this is turning into hatred”, Bozdag said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency, broadcast live on Turkish television channels.
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Russian Federation is aware of Bulgaria’s readiness to renew the South Stream gas pipeline project, but EU’s rock-solid guarantees are needed for that, says Vladimir Putin.
