Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have vowed to boost ties, both sides said.
In a phone call, Putin and Erdogan “reviewed bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed their determination to continue boosting the mutually beneficial partnership between Russia and Turkey,’ the Kremlin said on January 2.
‘The parties also touched upon global issues, including the recent proposals on developing legally binding agreements that will guarantee Russia’s security, the situation in the South Caucasus, and efforts to resolve the Syrian and Libyan crises,’ the statement added.
Turkey’s Communications Directorate said the call focused on steps to improve relations.
“The Caucasus, Syria, and Libya alongside regional and international developments were discussed in the meeting that reiterated the determination to advance Turkey-Russia cooperation in all fields,” the Turkish side said.
The call comes as NATO-member Turkey, which has the alliance’s second-largest army, has angered Moscow by supplying weapons to Ukraine, including armed drones that were used for the first time against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in late October.
Turkey has good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, but it has criticized Moscow’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Russia has amassed about 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, raising concerns it is preparing for a possible offensive as it demands sweeping security guarantees from the United States and NATO.
In particular, Moscow wants NATO to deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.
Russia and Turkey are also cooperating in a diplomatic push to bring stability to the South Caucasus following Azerbaijan’s victory against Armenian forces in the late 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkish and Armenian special envoys are expected to meet in Moscow this month to kick-start talks on normalizing relations as part of a broader Russia-mediated regional peace effort involving Armenia and Turkey’s ally, Azerbaijan.
In Syria and Libya, Russia and Turkey back opposing sides but have generally cooperated in trying to reduce conflict.
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington DC 20036
