Steps to Rapprochement Between Turkey and Russia Could Herald Change in Russo-European Relations

PRESS RELEASE

Steps to Rapprochement Between Turkey and Russia Could Herald Change in Russo-European Relations

July 4, 2016 (EIRNS)—More steps are being taken for a rapprochement between Russia and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in late July or early August, according to a statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to the Turkish NTV news channel.

"We’ll make the preparation for this meeting with our ministers. There will be decisions taken on the economy. Our ministers [of energy] will also come together to discuss issues concerning energy,"

the minister said.

Cavusoglu said he had invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Antalya for a meeting to discuss political ties before important summits, including the Turkey-Russia High-Level Strategic Cooperation meeting slated to be held in Turkey later this year.

Pointing to cooperation on terrorism, Cavusoglu said,

"We’ll make cooperation with everybody against Daesh [Islamic State/ISIS]... This terrorist organization is the enemy of all of us, and we should fight against it. Therefore, reviving these [security and intelligence] mechanisms [between Turkey and Russia] is very important for both fighting against terror and avoiding any kind of negative incident. We have agreed on this point as Sergey Lavrov said,"

Cavusoglu said.

Lavrov and Cavusoglu met in Sochi last week to create a road map for the normalization of bilateral relations, including re-launching military-to-military mechanisms on Syria.

Russian Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev said in an interview with Gazeta.ru that "Trade and investment relations with Turkey will be restored," reported TASS on July 1.

He also said that, in his opinion, before the end of this year relations between Russia and European countries will also change: "The European sanctions are the ultimate story. I think there is a high degree of probability that a decision about their serious modification will be made by the end of this year."

Ulyukayev is expected to meet with Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci as part of the Group of 20 meeting of trade ministers in Shanghai.