NATO and EU don't hinder Russian-Turkish relations, Umit Yardym says

Turkey's membership in NATO and the country's aspiration to join the EU do not prevent the development of bilateral relations with Russia, Turkish Ambassador to Moscow Umit Yardym says.

"Turkey is a NATO member and our country aspires to join the EU, but this cannot influence our contacts with Russia," he underlined.

According to him, Ankara considers "cooperation with Russia to have great importance." "The level of relations and cooperation between the two countries are better than cooperation with some European partners," the diplomat added.

Yardym did not exclude the possibility of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the field of arms supply. "Of course we are ready to cooperate with Russia in every sector and every direction."

"Today in the sphere of military-technical cooperation and in the field of energy Russia and Turkey don't have strong relations. Maybe this fact has some technical or political reasons," Umit Yardym said, adding that the most important thing is development of stable relations, because stability provides strengthening of cooperation in all areas.