Moscow jump-starts economic cooperation with Ankara

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday signed a decree for the continuation of commercial and economic cooperation with Turkey, in another sign of thawing between the two countries.

The decree will be carried out until 2019 with the Turkish government, according to a statement released Saturday from Russian government's press office. The negotiations for the establishment of a common fund will also resume in order to finance investment projects in both countries, the statement added.

After the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian jet over the Turkey-Syria border last November, relations between the two countries soured, until the issue seemed largely resolved on June 29 through a letter and in subsequent telephone calls between the leaders.

On June 30, Russia lifted a ban on tourist flights to Turkey following a phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkish and Russian foreign ministers later met in the Russian city of Sochi on July 1 in an effort to boost the process of normalizing relations.

President Putin gave his support to Turkey in the July 15 coup attempt and said he stood by the elected government, offering his condolences to the victims of what Erdogan called the “most heinous” armed coup attempt in modern Turkish history.

On July 22, Russia also lifted restrictions on flights to Turkey, which had been implemented temporarily following the coup attempt, after Turkish officials assured their Russian counterparts that additional security measures were taken, Russia's civil aviation authority announced.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Fatma Bulbul contributed to this report from Istanbul.