Turkey and Russian Federation have common views on political settlement in Syria, including issues of observing ceasefire and delivering humanitarian aid, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. The formation of this mechanism was agreed to during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Çavuşoğlu said.
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North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said on Wednesday that Turkey’s membership was not in question and that Ankara could count on its solidarity and support after last month’s failed coup, which has triggered deep purges in the alliance’s second largest armed forces.
Turkey and Russian Federation have similar views on the need for a ceasefire in Syria, the provision of humanitarian aid, and a political solution to end the crisis, according to Cavusoglu.
It was his first foreign trip since the failed coup, but the foreign minister said it was not a move to turn Turkey’s focus to the East.
Thousands of people, waving Turkish flags, gathered outside the presidential palace in Ankara on Wednesday night to hear Erdogan call anew for the United States to extradite USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt.
Mr Erdogan’s official visit to Russian Federation on Tuesday in order to restore friendly ties with President Vladimir Putin amounted to a pointed signal to the West.
Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Moscow Center said, “It is significant for both because both of them have to bargain hard with the West. Putin is about sanctions and about normalizing the relations, about bringing them more [to] business as usual”.
NATO’s position came “in view of speculative press reports regarding NATO’s stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation membership”. Gulen has repeatedly denied any involvement.
“Let me say openly, this is because the European Union adopted a favourable position to the coup (and) encouraged the putschists”, the minister told reporters during a televised briefing in the capital Ankara without expanding further.
European nations and human rights groups have expressed alarm over the scope of Turkey’s crackdown, triggering anger from Turkish officials who have complained of a lack of support for Turkey over the failed coup. Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey says he is a dictator who must be removed.
“On Syria, we think the same on the issue of a cease-fire, on humanitarian aid and a political solution”, the minister said.
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“Now it’s very important [for Russia] to turn this country which was the spearhead of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation against the Soviet Union in the past, and where so many intelligence assets or radars had been placed to monitor Russian military activity, to draw it back to Russia and to resume good relations”, says Mizin.
