Moscow and Ankara have reached a new level of relations, a distinctive feature of which is a mutual understanding and a willingness to negotiate on any issue, the Chief Adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, Gokhan Cetinsaya told Vestnik Kavkaza. "Turkey is trying to build mutually beneficial relationships with all global players, including Russia, respecting the strategic interests of each of them, and this policy will be continued," he added.
Cetinsaya reminded that the history of relations between Russia and Turkey is very rich in times of both peace and conflict. "We've had wars and competition, but today we live in a different time, when the balance of power in the world is changing. Accordingly, Turkey has certain plans to become a new center of power in the world and a major player in the region – but we cannot achieve it unilaterally, since it is necessary to take into account the interests of all countries," he noted.
The Chief Adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister acknowledged that, on the one hand, there is great potential for cooperation with Russia, but on the other hand, there are issues which may interfere with the interaction: the differences in positions on the Crimean issue, the war in Syria or relations with Armenia.
"A distinctive aspect of today's diplomacy is that for two hundred years relations between our countries were built in such a way that, if some problem wasn't resolved, the sides would freeze bilateral ties and wouldn't move on to the solution of other problems. That is, relations inevitably reduced to a minimum without success in negotiations. Now we are confident that all differences are solvable, and in paying attention to the problems we simultaneously develop bilateral cooperation in different directions. The presence of different views on any matter does not mean that we will act against each other," Cetinsaya said.
The Adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister drew attention to the crucial role of energy in the partnership between the two countries. "The Turkish Stream is one of the tools of Turkey's energy security, so Russia is playing a very important role here," Gokhan Cetinsaya concluded.
