Turkey-Russia ties on fast track

ANKARA — Turkey and Russia held a high-level cooperation council meeting on Tuesday, attended by the presidents of both countries, at which signed four agreements.

During a joint news conference after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will accelerate delivery of S-400 defense systems to Turkey, which was initially planned for 2020.

Erdogan said the two countries have finalized the deal for the purchase of such missile defense systems, adding that Russia has proved its sincerity by accepting an earlier delivery.

Putin also said relations between the two countries are developing “step by step”, adding that trade and economic relations were the focal point of the meetings in Ankara.

Erdogan welcomed Putin for making his first foreign trip to Turkey after his election victory in March. “This is the best expression for the state of Turkey-Russia relations,” he said.

Political dialogue between the two countries is reflected in bilateral economic relations, he said, adding that total volume of bilateral trade has reached $22 billion.

About 4.7 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2017 and the figure will reach 6 million this year, Erdogan said.

Erdogan reiterated that Turkey wants to lift mutual visa requirements with Russia. But Russia is not eager to take such a step because of security concerns.

Syria issue

The issue of Syria was part of their talks and the two leader discussed political solutions. They stressed that Turkey and Russia will cooperate on the Syria crisis.

Erdogan said he informed Putin about the Turkish army’s ongoing offensive in Syria’s Afrin against Kurdish militia.

In a sign of the importance of the partnership, Putin’s visit to Turkey is his first trip abroad since he won a historic fourth presidential term in March.

The groundbreaking ceremony of Turkey’s first nuclear power facility, Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, was held earlier in the day with the participation of both presidents via video teleconference from Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

Ankara-Moscow relations were tested by a severe crisis for Turkey’s downing a Russian jet on the Syrian-Turkish border in 2015. Strains have been eased as the two sides began a reconciliation process in 2016 following Turkey’s apology.

The normalization process was strained over the assassination of Russian ambassador to Ankara, Andrey Karlov, in an armed attack in 2016.

But Putin called the assassination a “provocation” to undermine relations between Turkey and Russia as well as efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Russia and Turkey prioritized cooperation in Syria amid the latter’s strained relations with its Western allies, particularly with the United States, over the issue of People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Ankara sees as an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.