Russia, Turkey To Resume Syrian Dialogues
MEP: Russian Foreign Minister said Wednesday that Moscow will most likely resume negotiation with Ankara over Syrian crisis after the two nations decided to restore relations.
“We until recently had very close contacts on Syrian settlement with Turkey, and then they were interrupted for clear reasons,” Sergei Lavrov said following a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault in Paris.
Lavrov said as reported by Tass news agency that after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent apologies to the Russian president Vladmir Putin, when they discussed possibilities of normalization of our relations by phone today, it seems to me that we with Turkish partners will resume communication on search for ways to settle the Syrian crisis.”
Relations between Russia and Turkey became strained last November after Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft with two pilots aboard, claiming the fighter jet had repeatedly violated Turkish airspace.
Russia, however, insisted the aircraft did not cross the border and accused Ankara of “planned provocation.”
Moscow said the plane was brought down in Syrian airspace, where Russia has been conducting combat sorties against Takfiri terrorists since late September 2015 upon a request by the Damascus government.
