Russia, Turkey Agree To Restore Ties After Diplomatic Rift

Russia and Turkey took a big step toward normalising relations on August 9, 2016, with their leaders announcing an acceleration in trade and energy ties at a time when both countries have troubled economies and strains with the West. Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin received his Turkish counterpart Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a Tsarist-era palace outside his home city of St. Petersburg. Both the leaders patched their relations and pledged to restore close economic relations. Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin agreed to work toward restoring full relations with Turkey, but said that rebuilding trade ties would be time consuming. He said that Russian trade sanctions on Turkey would be phased out step by step.

President Mr. Erdogan said that the two countries would restore their yearly

bilateral trade target of $100 billion and would speed up the resumption of charter flights from Russia to Turkey. Mr. Erdogan also said that he was ready to build a natural gas pipeline with Russia and negotiate a deal to construct Turkey's first nuclear power plant. The two leaders agreed to meet later to seek common ground over how to resolve the crisis in Syria. It was Mr. Erdogan's first visit to Mr. Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg after the failed coup in Turkey in July 2016. Mr. Erdogan is turning to Russia after post-coup criticism from the West.

The diplomatic relations between the two nations went wrong in November 2015 when Turkey shot down a Russian bomber, the Su-24 jet, on the Syrian border. After this incident, Russia imposed trade sanctions and suspended Russian package tours to Turkey. The incident also put two energy projects, the TurkStream gas pipeline across the Black Sea and the Akkuyu nuclear plant being

 

built by Russia's Rosatom in Turkey, on hold. While progress in the talks is expected on economic issues, the conflict in Syria remains a sticking point. Russia's bombing campaign in support of Syria's President Mr. Bashar al-Assad had already put a chill on relations between Moscow and Ankara, which supports rebel groups in Syria's five-year civil war and wants to see Assad leave power.

 

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