Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Russia and Turkey are closing the “crisis chapter” to restore their cracked relations after the incident of downed Russian aircraft.

Turkey pays special attention to Russian holidaymakers' security and it take all the essential measure in that sphere, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan said on Thursday in an exclusive interview with TASS.

"There are no problems from the point of view of security," he said. "It’s important for us to make sure that tourists and other visitors from Russia feel secure in Turkey."

"In addition, we have the relationship that strengthened over years. Many Russian citizens view Turkey as a second home and come here every year to spend vacations," he said.

In turn, Moscow is lifting travel restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey after a period of diplomatic tension with plans to resume "mutually advantageous" trade relations.

The Russian authorities’ subsequent steps included a ban on chartered flights between Russia and Turkey and the sales of tours in the wake of a rise of the threat of terrorist acts there.

"Turks and Russians have centuries-old friendly relations. Unfortunately, a short-term turbulence in bilateral relations depressed the size of incoming Russian tourists but after the two countries’ leaders made certain steps, the incoming tourism from Russia reopened again," Kalin said.

He underlined the hopes the overall number of Russian tourists would return to last November’s figures in the short-term and would grow further in the future.

Commenting on normalizing cracked relations with Turkey, Putin said that he wants to start with the question of tourism.

"We are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area," Putin told the ministers earlier.

Russian tourists travelling Turkey last month was down by more than 90 percent year on year, according to figures by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Overall tourism in Turkey was down about 35 percent last month compared with the same period of last year, the ministry said.

Previously, Russia and Turkey held consultations regarding the visa-free regime with Turkey at the level of Foreign Ministries.

The crisis in relations between the two countries began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey.

On June 29 the presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation. The heads of two states agreed to work out the possibility of holding near-term personal meeting.

The two leaders talks last at the summit of "Big Twenty" in Antalya last fall.

The relations began to recover after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft.

In turn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich at the meeting with Turkish Deputy PM Simsek said that apologies of the Turkish side served as a basis for the restoration of relations between Russia and Turkey.

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