Turkey / Russia : Relations on the mend

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Turkey / Russia : Relations on the mend

 

 

ST PETERSBURG: -- A meeting between the Russian and Turkish Presidents seems to have gone some way towards mending their bilateral relations.

 

The Breakdown in Relations

Erdoğan’s day trip to St Petersburg is his first foreign visit since the failed coup in Turkey last month and the ensuing purge which has given rise to serious diplomatic tension between Ankara and its Western allies.

 

Since last November, when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border killing one Russian pilot, the two countries have been at odds.

 

Following the incident, Russia imposed trade sanctions on Turkey and the number of Russians visiting Turkey fell by 87% in the first half of 2016. At the time, Putin described it as a ‘stab in the back by supporters of terrorism.’ President Erdogan said that Turkey had warned Russia about crossing into its airspace and he later apologised for the incident.

 

At a Press conference after their meeting, Russian President, Vladimir Putin admitted:

“Yes, we have been through some very testing times in the relations between our two states, but we all share the will to overcome these difficulties in the interests of our citizens.”

 

Bilateral Trade

President Erdogan went on to mention the trade targets between Russia and Turkey. He revealed :

“Our bilateral trade was at $35 billion, but with the events (of last November) it has dropped to $27 billion. However, our goal is to reach $100 billion of trade and we are determined to achieve our goal”.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-08-10

[happy Joe]

NATO's output target for Turkey.

[Rancid]

Erdogan is becoming more like a dictator every day. However there is quite a bit a of circumstantial evidence to suggest the coup may have been western organized, or at the least he seems to believe that. Presumably governments have better access to information than the rest of us.

 

For all that though seems Turkey and Russia are simply moving back to where they were before, the only game changer would be if Turkey stopped its support for ISIS and for regime change in Syria.

[volka]

Turkey is convinced that US is behind the coup , so now it's looking for friends as there are none.

 

its now clear Assad will not fold and turkey is not getting into EU, so best to crawl back to old friends to salvage whatever is left

[klauskunkel]

two fellows who understand each other

[harada]

Ol Vlad, he's like a hyena circling a carcass. 

[Srikcir]

Let's see Turkey inform Putin that it will send all the Middle East refugees into Russia instead of the EU.

[bkkcanuck8]

4 hours ago, volka said:

Turkey is convinced that US is behind the coup , so now it's looking for friends as there are none.

 

its now clear Assad will not fold and turkey is not getting into EU, so best to crawl back to old friends to salvage whatever is left

 

The US should just close whatever bases are left there (I had a cousin born in Turkey) and force them out of NATO.

 

Only a few years ago they relied on being in NATO to protect them from Russian military reprisals.... so I don't think Turkey would be so eager to stray if the result was no more umbrella.

Edited August 10, 2016 by bkkcanuck8

[BuaBS]

Putin needs Turkey for gas pipe projects , it's that simple.