Putin, Erdogan discuss Russia-Turkey relations on phone

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Turkish-Russian relations, including the upcoming in the nearest future bilateral contacts at various levels, said a message of the Kremlin.

"They discussed the top issues in Russian-Turkish relations”, the message noted.

Putin and Erdogan mulled the Syrian problem in the telephone conversation as well, including the situation in Aleppo.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin agreed to step up efforts to stop clashes in the Syrian city of Aleppo and delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilians in the conflict-hit city.

The two leaders discussed bilateral ties in the context of normalization of relations between the two countries.

Wednesday's phone call is the third since Friday.

Located in 40 kilometers (25 miles) of the Turkish border, Aleppo is Syria’s second-largest city that is used to be home to around three million people, mainly Arabs, including 400,000 Turkmens and 200,000 Kurds.

A year after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, opposition forces took control of the city’s eastern districts.

In 2013, the Assad regime began a campaign of indiscriminate bombardment on the city that has triggered a humanitarian crisis in the war-battered city.

The situation in Aleppo has extremely deteriorated lately as heavy battles are going on in the city and its outskirts. The Syrian government launched an operation in Aleppo in September with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias.

Previously, it was reported that a meeting between the Russian and Turkish Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is being prepared but will take place not earlier than 2017.

Meanwhile,Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held negotiations in the Turkish city of Alanya.

Following the meeting, Sergei Lavrov said that special attention was paid to the situation in Syria during the talks with Mevlut Cavusoglu.

"We held extremely helpful talks on a wide range of issues, special attention was paid to acute international issues, particularly the situation in Syria. We were united regarding the understanding of what is needed immediately to stop the terrorist threats in the country, stop the bloodshed, transfer the settlement process to a political track and provide a solution to humanitarian problems, delivery of aid," Lavrov said. 

Relations between Turkey and Russia broke down for about seven months after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November 2015. However, relations have improved since the August meeting of the two presidents.