Erdogan on his letter to Putin: it would be wrong to live separately from each other

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that relations between Turkey and Russia are extremely important to the whole region.

"Regrettably, we had an undesirable incident with a Russian plane. Negative processes continued for eight following months. Then we wrote a letter in which we said that relations between Turkey and Russia are extremely important to the whole region and it would be wrong to live separately from each other. We suggested resolving problems," TASS cited Erdogan as saying.

"I am certain that after my visit many things will be back on track. And, of course, Syria is one of the most important themes to us. We discussed it in detail before," he said.

The Turkish leader expects "productive talks" with Russian President Putin. The list of themes for discussion may be expanded at the G20 summit in China.

As he touched upon the issue if the restoration of relations with Russia ruled out a wider dialog with other countries, Erdogan said that it would be very wrong to follow the either-or pattern.

"We wish to develop relations with all in the international scene," he said.