Recent contacts between Moscow, Ankara to set right tone to repair relations
Recent contacts between Russia and Turkey at the highest and a high level will set the right tone to repair relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu July 1, TASS news agency reported.
“We appreciate the opportunity to discuss relations after the Turkish president's letter to the president of Russia and their phone conversation,” Lavrov said.
“Thank you very much for the invitation to the meeting and the hospitality,” Cavusoglu said. “Our presidents talked on the phone, it was a very constructive conversation. We now need to repair relations, so that they reach the proper level.”
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held phone talks June 29. The last time the two leaders spoke was November 2015 at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.
The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.
Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.
He said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".
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