Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the prospects for the Russian-Turkish cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and the settlement of the Syrian crisis during the upcoming Erdogan's visit to Moscow, the Kremlin's press service said in a statement.
Erdogan will visit Russia on March 10 to attend the sixth meeting of the High-Level Cooperation Council.
"There are also plans to exchange views on urgent aspects of regional problems, first of all, regarding the prospects for further cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the fight against international terrorism and the settlement of the Syrian crisis," the statement said.
The leaders also plan to discuss the construction of the Turkish nuclear power plant Akkuyu and the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
The head of the political research of the Center for Modern Turkish Studies, Yuri Mavashev, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the upcoming meeting of the presidents is designed to make certainty on a whole range of issues of bilateral relations. "As the adviser to the Turkish President Ilnur Chvik recently clarified, the central topic of the talks will be the discussion of the Syrian issue. They will discuss the steps that have already been taken within the framework of the Turkish Euphrates Shield operation, as well as the resolution of some acute angles of our bilateral Interaction," he said.
"If we are talking about Syria, these are the Kurdish issue and relations with Iran. These topics directly influence the decision-making process both in Russia and Turkey. Iran supports us on the side of the Syrian President Bashar Assad, but leads its own game, while its forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps together with the governmental army of Assad are only a few kilometers from the Turkish forces and the opposition Free Syrian Army. In the south of al-Bab there are Syrian and Iranian troops, from the north - the Turkish troops and FSA," the expert drew attention.
"Not less difficult work is underway on the cross-border Kurdish issue, because the parties cannot declare publicly what exactly they have agreed," Yuri Mavashev expexts.
The Manbij campaign of the Turkish army will also be an important topic on the Syrian track. "It is highly likely that Moscow will try to persuade Erdogan to give up this step or limit it somehow, because otherwise the 'Euphrates Shield' operation runs the risk of getting out of control," he warned.
The Presidents will also touch on the topic of expanding cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the territory of Russia and Turkey.
"The Council of the Russian-Turkish high-level cooperation will be entrusted with working out a removal of restrictive measures, implementing a roadmap on the resumption of food supplies." In the gas sector, everything will go its own way, the Council will only need to clarify the points of the ready plan," the head of the political research of the Center for Modern Turkish Studies concluded.
