“The NATO Secretary General had spoken to the Turkish Foreign Minister on the night of the attempted coup and later with President Erdogan, strongly condemning the attempted coup and reiterating full support for Turkey’s democratic institutions”.
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Total number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey is 250,000 so far in 2016, while last year’s figure from February to June was 2,800,000.
While Putin said it would take some time to see the earlier period of trade between Russian Federation and Turkey returns after Moscow imposed a series of economic sanctions against Ankara following the aircraft incident but both countries said they aimed to restart major energy projects that were hit by the fallout.
The two leaders’ meeting in St. Petersburg was in the wake of Turkey’s ties with the western bloc having strained.
“Turkey is a valued Ally, making substantial contributions to NATO’s joint efforts”.
Meanwhile, responding to the statement of Turkish minister, US State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said that such rhetoric was not helpful for bilateral ties between Ankara and Washington. “We understand that this was a serious situation, but at the same time the rhetoric doesn’t help advance the situation”.
Kalin insisted Turkey’s position on Assad had not changed despite the reconciliation with Russia: “We still want him to go”.
Turkish officials were keen to suggest there is no geopolitical significance in Erdogan’s visit to Russian Federation.
On Sunday Austria’s foreign minister threatened to block European Union negotiations with Turkey.
Putin added that he and Erdogan would have a separate discussion on Syria later Tuesday involving top military and intelligence officials to search for common ground in the crisis, where Moscow and Ankara have backed the opposing sides.
“I don’t expect a long-term security cooperation between Turkey and Russian Federation, but the West should understand the message given by the visit itself”, Ahmet Yukleyen, Associate Professor of International Relations at Istanbul Commerce University said. “I hope this program is approved soon”.
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. Turkish officials have questioned why no Western leader has come to show solidarity.
The United States, and the rest of the West to a degree, had fallen out with Russian Federation over its seizure of Crimea and its dispatch of forces to eastern Ukraine, leading to economic and financial sanctions against Mr. Putin. The Russian economy is laboring under depressed oil prices. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pays a visit to Russian President Vladmir Putin in Moscow, claiming to build a new and harmonious relationship with Russia.
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On Syria, he acknowledged that the two countries held different views but said they shared the same goal. Both projects are priced at $20 billion (18 billion euro).
