Organization led by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen has made efforts to undermine Turkey-Russia relations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, Sputnik reports.
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Turkey’s decision to renew relationship with Russia soured by the downing of a Russian war plane along the Syrian border in November, however, comes at a time when Ankara is reviewing its ties with the West in the backdrop of the failed coup that many believe had USA backing. Akkuyu will benefit from being designated a “strategic investment”, Mr Erdogan said.
HECY: Maybe they can minimize frictions between Turkey and Russian Federation…
Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Moscow Center said, “It is significant for both because both of them have to bargain hard with the West. Putin is about sanctions and about normalizing the relations, about bringing them more (to) business as usual”.
Yet in June, he did write to the Kremlin to express regret over the incident and to call for the “restoration of traditional friendly ties” between Russian Federation and Turkey.
Mr Putin, one of the first foreign leaders to phone Mr Erdogan offering support after the coup attempt, shares none of the scruples of European Union leaders about the ensuing crackdown.
Turkey accuses the West of showing more concern over a postcoup crackdown than over the putsch itself.
So what are the issues at play in the rekindled relationship? While the Kremlin has tempered its rhetoric amid the rapprochement, Putin will most certainly push Erdogan to cut support for the rebels engaged in a fierce battle with Assad’s forces in Aleppo.
Following the incident, Moscow introduced a package of economic measures against Ankara – a visa regime, travel ban, as well as an embargo on agricultural products and on hiring Turkish nationals. Turkey is accusing Fethullah Gulen, the religious cleric – now in Pennsylvania, in the USA, [of plotting the failed coup].
Erdogan and Putin are both seen internationally as strong but autocratic leaders, and there may be some common ground in the way that the Turkish president has restricted his country’s media environment, an accusation often levelled at Putin’s Russian Federation.
Bozdag said Turkey has formally arrested 16,000 suspects pending trial, with 6,000 others still being questioned. “We will also increase our cooperation in the defence industry”.
Russian Federation holds no such concerns about the purge, and gives an important endorsement on the worldwide stage of Ankara’s controversial crackdown, amid concerns over the mass detentions.
The Russian president added that his country’s “principled position” is “categorically against any attempts at unconstitutional actions”.
Erdoğan said that Turkey held two general elections in 2015, while also fighting against terror, and finally resisting against a bloody coup attempt on July 15 and added: “The treacherous attack against our democracy and republic was resisted by courage and the sacrifice of our nation”.
“If the United States does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist”, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara. “But the results we got did not satisfy us”.
Opening the talks, Putin said he was “glad” to be seeing Erdogan again and praised his visit as Turkey’s commitment to fix the soured ties.
Russian Federation is a main, key and very important player in establishing peace in Syria.
But they said their discussion of the Syrian situation would come after their news conference Tuesday, in an apparent attempt to compartmentalize the economic and trade questions from the thornier issue of the war. “Both sides are determined to take relations forward”.
“Turkey seeks regime change, Russian Federation is in favor of regime stability”.
Turkey also needs assurances on trade, energy and Syria.
There is a potential for greater cooperation in targeting their common enemy, ISIS, and potentially working to limit some of the violence in northern Syria, he said.
“I think it is possible to align our views and approaches”, Putin told reporters.
“He is trying to use Russian Federation to gain leverage with the United States and Europe”, he said. “We are doing it for our own interests and for the interests of the region”. Turkey would take about 14 billion cubic meters, with the rest going to Europe.
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Supporters of of President Erdogan in Antalya last month, following the attempted coup in Turkey.
