Negotiations between Putin and Erdogan in Moscow began with a curiosity
Negotiations between the presidents of Russia and Turkey began in Moscow on the situation in Syria, where the day before there were clashes in the province of Idlib, killing dozens of Turkish soldiers.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, Recep Erdogan initially proposed holding a meeting in Istanbul and inviting the leaders of France and Germany to it, but Vladimir Putin convinced him that it was possible to do without intermediaries and move the summit to Moscow.
Together with Erdogan, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, and head of the national intelligence organization Hakan Fidan arrived in the Russian capital. It is planned that negotiations with their participation will begin after a bilateral meeting of state leaders.
The meeting itself began with a curiosity - after a strong handshake, having seated Erdogan in a chair, Putin went to greet the members of the Turkish delegation. Erdogan hesitated at this time and abruptly jumped up from his seat, hastening to shake hands with members of the Russian delegation at a time when Putin was already returning to him.
(By the way, as we see, unlike European politicians, handshakes were not canceled under the pretext of the danger of coronavirus).
“At the beginning of our meeting, I want to once again express my sincere condolences regarding the death of your military personnel in Syria. The death of people is always a great tragedy. Unfortunately, as I already told you in a telephone conversation, no one, including the Syrian military personnel, knew about their location. During this time, unfortunately, Syrian soldiers also suffered. The Syrian army has suffered serious losses. Therefore, we need to talk with you about the whole situation that has developed today, so that nothing like A - does not happen again and B - so that it does not destroy Russian-Turkish relations, to which we belong, and I know you too, very carefully “, said the Russian leader.
The Turkish president emphasized that he greatly values the existing relationship with the Russian Federation, in particular in the defense sector.
“As you know, we were going to hold our meeting in Turkey, but in connection with your work on constitutional amendments, we decided to accept your invitation and come here. Undoubtedly, our meeting today in connection with the Idlib negotiations is of great importance. Indeed, the situation in the region is very tense. I know the whole world is looking here today. I believe that our steps and decisions today will undoubtedly ease the situation. Between our countries, we are just experiencing a time when relations have reached their peak. This applies to the defense industry, trade relations, and so on. We believe that we need to move in this direction. Our biggest challenge is to promote and develop our relationship. I believe that we will succeed in this matter,” Erdogan emphasized.
The meeting of the presidents then continued closed to the press.
It is not yet known whether the leaders will make statements following the negotiations. Apparently, this will depend on whether the parties can reach a compromise.
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