Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan shook hands warmly after months of angry rhetoric
Source: BBC
Russia is ready to restore economic co-operation and other ties with Turkey, President Vladimir Putin has told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St Petersburg.
It is Mr Erdogan’s first foreign visit since an attempted coup last month.
Mr Erdogan thanked Mr Putin, saying “your call straight after the coup attempt was very welcome”.
Russian-Turkish relations soured last November when Turkey shot down a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.
The visit comes as Turkey’s ties with the West have cooled over criticism of Mr Erdogan’s purge of 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.
Erdogan unnerves West with Putin visit
“This visit strikes me as a new milestone in our bilateral relations, starting again from a clean slate,” Mr Erdogan told Russia’s Tass news agency.
Mr Putin said their talks would cover “the whole range of our relations… including restoring economic ties, combating terrorism”.
After Turkey shot down the Su-24 jet Russia imposed trade sanctions and suspended Russian package tours to Turkey.
What could each side gain from the visit?
The war of words over the downed Russian jet delivered a big blow to trade. Turkey’s exports to Russia in the first half of this year fell to $737m (£567m) – a 60.5% slump compared to the same period last year, Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported.
The dispute put two major joint energy projects on hold – the TurkStream gas pipeline across the Black Sea and the Akkuyu nuclear plant being built by Russia’s Rosatom in Turkey.
Russia halts Turkey gas project talks
Before the dispute, Russia was a major export market for Turkish fruit and vegetables – so now Turkey is anxious to get the Russian import ban lifted.
There have been increasing signs that ties are improving. Late last month Russia resumed scheduled passenger flights to Turkey and said it was moving to resume charter flights. For years Turkey has been a magnet for Russian tourists, and its resorts suffered heavily from the trade embargo.
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