Putin and Erdogan mend ties as post-coup Turkey turns to Russia

Turkey and Russia will seek to speed up the repair of frayed relations when Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Vladimir Putin for talks in St. Petersburg next month in the wake of the failed military coup against the Turkish president.

Russia “isn’t just our close and friendly neighbor, but also a strategic partner,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who announced the Aug. 9 visit, said at talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich on Tuesday. “Today, we are here to normalize the situation and our relations as soon as possible and at an accelerated pace since they were disrupted on November 24,” he said, referring to the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish fighter jets near the Syrian border.

There’ll be no shortage of things for the two presidents to talk about in St. Petersburg, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. Putin discussed Erdogan’s visit with the Russian Security Council on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin’s website.

The attempt to overthrow Erdogan has turbo-charged efforts to restore ties between Turkey and Russia that were already under way after the crisis over the warplane. The rapprochement may even lead to a political realignment in the region.

Erdogan has drawn criticism from the U.S. and other NATO allies for a sweeping crackdown on tens of thousands of alleged opponents following the failed coup, while Turkey has heaped praise on Russia for its support since the crisis erupted on July 15.

Simsek emphasized Turkey’s gratitude to Russia at the talks with Dvorkovich on restoring economic ties.

Russia and Turkey may form an alliance of “two developing economies with an ideology of sovereign values as a union of the deceived against the West,” Alexander Baunov, a senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in emailed comments.

Violations of rights and freedoms by the Erdogan government after the failed coup mean “moving away automatically from the West, which hasn’t yet decided how much to tolerate in order not to alienate” Turkey, Baunov said.

Turkey received “unconditional support” from Russia over the coup attempt, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. He also said anti-U.S. sentiment is rising in the country after the failed revolt. Putin ordered the Russian government last month to begin lifting sanctions imposed on Turkey after Erdogan sent a letter offering “sympathy and profound condolences” to the family of the pilot who died when Turkey shot down his plane during the November mission to bomb Islamic State and other militants in Syria.