Putin-Erdogan meeting to expedite bilateral relations normalization - Erdogan's spokesman

ANKARA, August 4. /TASS/. The talks between Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg will help expedite the process of normalizing bilateral relations, spokesman for the Turkish leader Ibrahim Kalyn said in an exclusive interview with TASS on Thursday. "We have no doubts that our countries will continue cooperating on the basis of mutual interests and the relations between them will reach an even higher level," the spokesman said. "The leaders’ meeting on August 9 will play an important role in expediting the process of normalizing the relations," he added. The Turkish leader’s spokesman also said "the process of normalization has begun thanks to the reasonableness and decisiveness of the presidents of both countries." "In a telephone talk earlier, the leaders agreed on a personal meeting before the G20 summit, which will be held in China. Actually the first steps [towards normalization] were taken after this talk. It is important for us to be in close cooperation and coordinate our efforts, be it bilateral relations or regional and global issues," Kalyn said. According to the spokesman, Turkey "sees Russia as an important friend and partner." "We know that the Russian people and the government treat Turkey likewise. For example, we perceived with gratitude and our entire people watched this on television that Russian citizens were bringing flowers to our embassy in Moscow after a terror attack in Istanbul [the terror act at the Istanbul Ataturk airport on June 28]," the Turkish leader’s spokesman said. Kalyn also mentioned the issue of a Russian Su-24 bomber shot down by a Turkish fighter jet on November 24, 2015. This incident led to a crisis in the relations between Ankara and Moscow and Russia imposed trade and economic sanctions against Turkey by the decree of the Russian president. "In November 2015, as soon as we learnt that the downed plane belonged to the Russian Aerospace Force, we assumed a friendly and constructive position. But it took several months for the negotiations between our countries to reach a certain level. As a result, thanks to the accords between our leaders, normalization began," the Turkish leader’s spokesman said. Read more