Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a phone chat with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday a day after news emerged about improvement in relations between the traditional allies.
Last Tuesday, Erdogan wrote to Putin in a bid to normalise relations following months of strained ties.
A Turkish presidential source decribed the phone call between two leaders as ”very positive”.
According to the official statement from Turkish Presidency, both leaders emphasised the importance of strong bilateral relations between the countries that also depended on each other economically.
“Mr. President and Mr. Putin pointed to the importance of holding cooperation in the face of political, economic and humanitarian crises in the region as well as taking necessary steps to revive the bilateral relations,” the statement said.
During the phone call, Putin condemned the terror attack that killed 41 people at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. He also expressed his condolences to the people of Turkey.
Economic relations between the traditionally friendly countries hit rock-bottom after Turkish military shot down a Russian jet in November 2015 for violating its airspace.
Earlier this week, Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said an “important step” had been taken to normalise relations and the countries had “opened a new page in which problems regarding bilateral ties and regional issues such as Syria, Ukraine and Crimea will be handled through dialogue and negotiation.”
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