By Vestnik Kavkaza
Speaker of the State Duma Sergei Naryshkin is currently on a visit to Turkey, where he is taking part in the conference ‘World War I 100 Years Later.’ Speaking at the forum, the head of the lower chamber of the parliament expressed the view that current relations between Russia and Turkey, which were on different sides of the front of World War I 100 years ago, could be an example for other countries. Naryshkin also praised the efforts of Turkey in taking care of the international graveyards of soldiers who participated in the Dardanelles Operation 100 years ago.
These days Turkey has gathered representatives of 73 countries at commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Dardanelles Operation. Numerous international military contingents of several countries are participating in it.
“Today representatives of states which used to be enemies or allies at that time, are meeting on Turkish land as partners. We are interested in elimination of the threat of new global conflicts forever. We should study our past together and build the future, improving mutual respect and cooperation,” the speaker of the State Duma noted.
Aleksei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, believes that relations between Russia and Turkey are quite positive: “Turkey is the only one of the NATO countries which refused to impose sanctions against Russia. According to the information from Ankara, this country is not going to impose sanctions. As you know, we have very active trade and economic cooperation. Now we are working on the mutual Turkish Stream project, which is going to be advantageous to both countries, and it is going to increase the role of Turkey as a transit country of energy supplies for Europe.”
At the same time, Pushkov notes that there are issues which are also interesting for the Turkish side, for example, the situation with the Crimean Tatars in Crimea: “We are trying answer all the questions that we can. We do not refuse to discuss this problem. I hope that Turkey appreciates its importance correctly and understands that we are ready for a dialogue regarding this matter. As for the rest, I say it again that relations with Turkey are very stable and constructive. And I would say that we almost have no fundamental contradictions. This fact is very important. We have no such situation which could strongly prevent the development of the inter-parliamentary and diplomatic dialogue between Ankara and Moscow. For obvious reasons, Turkey pays attention to it. In our turn, we accept it with understanding. But I think that this matter is more likely to be a sphere of cooperation rather than contradiction.”
In a month Moscow and Ankara will mark the anniversary of their diplomatic relations. “On June 3rd we will mark the 95th anniversary of when the leaders of Turkey and Soviet Russia decided to build diplomatic relations and support each other in a crucial moment for both states,” Sergei Naryshkin reminded. He said that the traditions of friendship and cooperation which were founded at the time are still alive today. Turkey is one of the leading economic partners of Russia, while cooperation in the energy sphere has reached “a really strategic level,” Naryshkin said, meaning such a global project as the Turkish Stream, which is aimed at providing energy security not only for Turkey, but also for Europe for many years.
