Russian-Turkish meeting shows progress in relations

Togrul Ismail, an assistant professor at the Faculty of International Relations of the University for Economy and Technologies in Ankara, has commented on the key points of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Istanbul.

The analyst calls the meeting in Turkey a success. Moscow and Ankara have pragmatic and sustainable relations base on economy. Political controversies do occur, but they are no obstacles for development of cooperation, the expert explains.

Ismail notes that Putin’s visit to Istanbul revealed disagreements of the two states on Syria and the Patriot missile systems. Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan found common grounds in the region and ways to continue cooperation. The main topic for discussions was economics, according to many agreements signed in Istanbul. The two states want to increase trade turnover to $100 billion.

Energy is the main aspect of trade-economic relations. Turkey requested Russia to increase gas exports by 3 billion cubic meters due to expansion of Turkish economy and growing demand for electricity.

Turkey praised Putin’s statement that Russia was not advocating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Russia explained that it did not want the events in Syria to cause repercussions.

Concerning Turkey’s request for Patriot missiles of NATO, Togrul Ismail said that they were not a threat to Russia and were a defensive means. The expert did not rule out that Putin’s skepticism over old Patriot missiles could be an emphasis on the S-300 systems of Russia. Armenia, Cyprus and Azerbaijan have such systems.