Erdoğan: Turkey and Russia are on the same page about Syria and Iraq

The headlines from Erdogan’s statement were as follows:

My dear friend and I have come together for the fifth time, this year Our ministers and Russian counterparts keep in touch, constantly. Hopefully, in the next period we will continue and improve our relations as both sides possess this determination. As two countries, we attach great importance to our council meetings. We will welcome Mr. Putin again in our country on occasion of the coming council meeting.

One of the areas with importance in our bilateral relations is energy. Turkish Current and Nuclear Power Plant Projects are in progress.

As Turkey and Russia, we have once again confirmed our determination to maintain our common will and close cooperation regarding the political solution of the Syrian conflict.

Unfortunately, our region has been getting more fragile recently. The referendum has no legitimacy in terms of the Iraqi Constitution and international law. Unfortunately, despite all the friendly remarks the regional government has made a huge mistake by organizing the referendum. As we have always said, no one has the right to set our region on fire, to escalate tension, for the sake of personal, short-term interests.

We have also discussed regional issues, including Iraq and Syria. We both agree about the territorial integrity of Syria as well as Iraq. It is very important for the international community to take a stand on the territorial integrity of Iraq.

I believe that the meetings my dear friend Putin and I had were fruitful in all aspects.

Putin’s statement were as follows:

We sincerely and constructively evaluated the coordination of the steps to be taken about mutual issues as well as the steps needed to solve the crisis in Syria, in a sincere and constructive manner.

We also evaluated the independence referendum held in the IKBY. Our principle attitude is mentioned in the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

We evaluated our bilateral commercial relationship. This year, we have increased our trade volume by 30 percent in 7 months. We have thus made up for the loss last year.

We have achieved considerable success with deconfliction zones.

This year the number of tourists coming from Russia to Turkey has increased 11 times.

We agreed to work together on the consensus reached at the 6th meeting in Astana.

In the first half of this year, agricultural exports from Turkey to Russia have increased by around 50 percent.

I thank for the discussions I have made with Erdoğan and I think the meeting was very efficient.