Erdogan, Putin pledge to boost relations
August 9, 2016, 9:34 pm

At one point, the war of words between both leaders led some to believe they could never restore ties [Xinhua]

But both men expressed ambitions to take bilateral relations even further.

“Your visit today, despite the very difficult political situation in Turkey, says that we all want to resume our dialogue, rapprochement in the interests of the peoples of Turkey and Russia,” Putin told Erdogan shortly after the Turkish president arrived in St. Petersburg for much anticipated talks.

Ties between the two countries had deteriorated rapidly after the Turkish air force shot down a Russian SU-24 over Syrian skies in November. The Turks said the Russian jet had violated their air space; Russia denied the accusation and said Ankara ordered the shooting down of the fighter plane to intimidate Moscow’s forces in Syria.

Following his talks with Erdogan, Putin told the TASS Russian news agency that the two countries often disagreed about means to end the Syrian civil war. However, he added that the two countries would hold separate talks about the Syrian crisis and that these would include foreign ministers and members of the security services.

“We have exchanged information and we are going to search for a solution,” Putin told TASS.

But he also said that he wanted to expand relations with Turkey, perhaps in reference to Moscow’s efforts to eradicate Islamic extremist forces in Syria and Iraq.

“We should not only regain the earlier level, but go even further, your [Russian business] active participation will be needed for sure to make it possible,” Putin told Russian and Turkish business leaders after meeting with Erdogan.

For his part, Erdogan said that both sides will work diligently to restore relations “and even beyond them”.

“I am of the opinion that the public of both countries expected this from us. That’s why, at the end of the meetings today, we have taken decisions to move Turkey-Russia relations to the levels they must be in political, financial, cultural and humanitarian fields,” he said before adding that he wanted to more and double Russian-Turkish trade.

During his press conference with Putin, Erdogan also said that he wanted to create a tripartite effort to resolve regional tensions, particularly the Azerbaijan-Armenia crisis.

“God willing, with the help of these steps, we will make the Ankara-Moscow axis into an axis of trust and friendship again,” he said in remarks carried by Turkish news agencies.

In the meantime, Russian sanctions against Turkey in the wake of the SU-24 crisis will be gradually phased out, Putin said.

Yury Barmin, an Expert at the Russian International Affairs Council covering the Middle East and North Africa, believes that a post-coup attempt Erdogan may now be more prompted to move his geopolitical points of view closer to Moscow.

“While it is highly unlikely that the Turkish president will change his view of the Syrian conflict overnight, he could become more flexible and change a tentative geopolitical camp, which is all Putin may need at this point,” Barmin writes.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies