Putin and Erdogan to meet in two weeks

A meeting between the Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will be held in Russia in early August, the Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"They agreed to hold the meeting in early August, it will take place in the Russian Federation, but the city and the exact date so far are being considered," TASS cited the Kremlin representative as saying.

Earlier, the Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Erdogan may meet before the G20 summit to be held in China in September, probably in August.

If the meeting takes place, it will be the first personal contact between the two presidents after the beginning of the normalization of the relations between the two countries.

Peskov denied the rumors that the meeting may be held in Baku. "No, it’s not true: a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran will be held in Baku," he said.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in a telephone conversation with the Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan over the loss of lives in Friday's attempted coup and also wished to restore stability in the country.

In late June, the Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to start the process of normalizing relations with Turkey and to restore cooperation in trade and other areas. In particular, on June 30, the ban on sales of tours to Turkey has been lifted.

Advisor to the deputy chairman of the Federation Council, deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Andrey Baklanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, pointed out that the outcome of these negotiations will mainly depend on Ankara's steps during the preparation and the situation in Turkey in general.

"Of course, the reaction from other countries to the events in Turkey will also be crucial," he said.

According to the diplomat, during the one-on-one meeting the presidents will be looking for ways to normalize relations, which have been seriously affected by the political crisis. "It is difficult to restore trust in such circumstances," Andrey Baklanov noted.

The expert recalled that the Russian-Turkish relations had been very rich and diverse before they were severed, and the leaders will discuss a number of joint projects, which have been suspended after the shooting down of a Russian bomber by the Turkish Air Force.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in the trade and economic cooperation. In order to restore it, we need to move forward and restore confidence. But we are neighboring countries and do not have to live in isolation, in a world that we artificially create. There are a lot of things, which are very far from our expectations and aspirations. It is necessary to find more things uniting us instead of separating, without compromising some fundamental principles of our policy," he noted.

A member of the Federation Council Committee for International Affairs, a representative of the executive body of the Ryazan Region, Igor Morozov, in turn, expressed confidence that the meeting of the presidents will be the key element that will determine the future prospects of bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey. "There is a big chance that it will lead to a restoration of relations in political, economic and humanitarian spheres. I also think that important issues regarding cooperation in Syria will be resolved," he expects.

"We know that jihadist groups cross the Turkish-Syrian border to support the terrorist organizations Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh. Financial support and weapons to militants are also sent through this route. I think the issue of closing the border with Syria will be resolved. It is also necessary to convince Erdogan to start talks with President al-Assad to restore the Turkish-Syrian relations. The triangle of Turkey-Russia-Syria, which could be established in the future, will be able to play a key role in a resolution of the geopolitical conflict and the fight against international terrorist organizations. Participation of Iraq and Iran is also possible. In general, it will make dramatic changes in the geopolitics of the Middle East and the world politics in general," he stressed.

Igor Morozov predicts that Turkey's president will rely less on the West in the future. "He understood that these are people who would carry on the Arab Spring scenario in Turkey. I think Erdogan will make very serious adjustments in his policy and will turn to Russia both in the political sphere and economic cooperation," the member of the Federation Council Committee on international Affairs concluded.