Syria’s civil war and bilateral ties are high on agenda in one-day talks between Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital.
Erdogan and Putin had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria. (AA)
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Moscow on Wednesday to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a first face-to-face meeting of 2019 between both leaders.
During Erdogan’s one-day visit to the Russian capital, the two leaders will exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between both countries.
Erdogan is accompanied by a delegation including Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, and Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli.
Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT) President Hakan Fidan, Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun are also part of the delegation.
Prior to his visit, an article penned by Erdogan titled “Turkey-Russia cooperation, critical for resolving the crisis in Syria” was published in Russian daily Kommersant last week.
“We will not seek advice on how to deal with a terrorist group from anyone whose activities have been directed against our citizens for more than 30 years or ask for permission to fight terrorism.”
“We reserve the right, when the appropriate conditions arise, to pursue terrorists who threaten our country from Syrian territory,” Erdogan said in the article.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey has no problem with Syrian Kurds nor any other groups living inside the borders of the neighbouring country.
Stating that the US pullout from Syria was “a step in right direction,” Erdogan said: “The Syrian crisis can be resolved only by those countries that benefit from the healing of Syria’s wounds and be harmed by their festering.”
In late December, US President Donald Trump announced that the US-led coalition succeeded in militarily defeating the Daesh terrorist group, his “only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency”, in Syria.
Emphasising that it is time for American forces to return home, Trump later signalled a “slow and highly coordinated pullout” of US troops from Syria.
When Trump proposed the idea of a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria last week, US officials demanded Turkey guarantee that it will not conduct an operation against the YPG/PKK terrorist group.
Turkey backed the idea of a safe zone in Syria, while it opposed the US request for protection of the terrorists.
PKK is recognised as a terror organisation by the US, EU and Turkey. YPG/PYD is its Syrian wing.
Erdogan and Putin had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria.
The leaders first met in the Turkish capital Ankara, where they chaired the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council meeting on April 3, a day before a trilateral summit on Syria between the leaders of Turkey, Russia, and Iran.
During the trilateral summit on April 4, Erdogan, Putin, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed their joint resolve to oppose separatism as well as the use of terrorism as an excuse for changing Syria.
Erdogan, Putin, and Rouhani are again expected to meet in the upcoming months to discuss the situation in Syria.
Turkey’s decision to make a $2.5-million purchase of two S-400 air defence systems with four batteries from Russia culminated in an agreement signed by both sides on December 29, 2017.
This led to strong opposition from the US which stipulated that Turkey scrap the deal as a precondition to its own sale of Patriot defense systems to Ankara.
Turkey has vehemently rejected Washington’s calls, with Erdogan saying on April 3 that the purchase was a decision for Turkey to make.
The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system and can carry three types of missiles capable of destroying targets including ballistic and cruise missiles.
The system can track and engage up to 300 targets at a time and has an altitude ceiling of 27km.