Russia, Turkey promise resetting of ties

Moscow, Aug 10: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday (Aug 9) pledged to reinvigorate ties following their first meeting since a Russian fighter jet was brought down by Turkey in November last year, AFP reported. [Post coup, is Turkey getting close to Russia at West's expense?]

Erdogan's trip to Russia is also his first foreign one since the failed coup in his country on July 15 which saw the authorities hitting back at the opponents and blaming the West for the attempt to topple Erdogan.

"We lived through a very complicated moment in the relations between our states and we very much want, and I feel our Turkish friends want, to overcome the difficulties," Putin told a joint press conference after his meeting with Erdogan, the AFP added.

While Putin said it would take some time to see the earlier period of trade between Russia and Turkey returns after Moscow imposed a series of economic sanctions against Ankara following the aircraft incident but both countries said they aimed to restart major energy projects that were hit by the fallout.

Erdogan, on the other hand, said the relation between Russia and Turkey would become "more robust" and stressed Putin's support for him after the coup attempt in which nearly 300 people were killed.

Turkey accused Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania in the US in a self-imposed exile, of backing the coup which the latter denied. Turkey also sought Gulen's extradition but the US demanded clear evidence.

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