Turkey's President Erdogan in Moscow to 'reset' Russia ties!!
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan is due to hold talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin and says
he wants to "reset" ties with Russia.
It is Mr Erdogan's first foreign
visit since an attempted coup last month.
Relations between the two countries
were plunged into crisis last year when Turkey shot down a Russian military jet
on the Syrian border.
The visit comes as Turkey's ties with
the West have cooled over criticism of a crackdown on alleged coup-plotters.
Before leaving Turkey, Mr Erdogan
referred to President Putin as his "friend" and said he wanted to
open a new page in relations with Russia.
"This visit strikes me as a new
milepost in our bilateral relations, starting again from a clean slate,"
Mr Erdogan told Russia's Tass news agency.
Relations between the two countries
were badly damaged when Turkey shot down the military jet last November,
leading Russia to impose trade sanctions and suspend Russian package tours to
Turkey.
In
June, the Kremlin said Mr Erdogan had apologised for
the downing of the jet and had sent a message expressing "sympathy and
deep condolences" to the family of the dead pilot.
Tuesday's talks in Moscow are
expected to focus on re-starting trade and investment and on restoring
important tourism and travel ties.
The two leaders will also seek common
ground in resolving the conflict in Syria where they still back opposing sides.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford says Russia
is keen to capitalise on Turkey's cooling relations with the West following the
failed coup.
Mr Erdogan has been angered by
criticism from the EU and the US of the mass round-up of suspected coup
plotters.
The crackdown has seen tens of
thousands of public sector workers suspended or dismissed, with many having
their passports cancelled.
About 18,000 people have been
detained or arrested and there has been a massive reshuffle of the military.
No comments:
Post a Comment