Turkish, Russian leaders to meet 3rd time since January

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to have their third meeting on Monday since the beginning of 2019 in Moscow.

Erdogan will attend the High-Level Cooperation Council between the two countries and the opening ceremony of the Turkey-Russia cross-cultural year, as well as the gala of the opera Troy in Bolshoi Theatre.

During Erdogan's first working visit to the Russian capital on Jan. 23, the two leaders have exchanged views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia.

During his second visit to Russia on Feb. 14, Erdogan, Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi for the fourth time to discuss the situation in Syria.

- 25 treaties in 2018

Erdogan and Putin had held seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, particularly Syria.

The leaders first met in the Turkish capital Ankara, where they chaired the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council meeting on April 3, a day before a trilateral summit on Syria between the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran.

During the April 4 summit, Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani stressed their joint resolve to oppose separatism and the use of terrorism as an excuse to make changes on the ground in the war-torn country.

A similar trilateral meeting is expected to be held in the coming months to discuss the situation in Syria.

Aside from the meeting on April 4, 2018, Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani first met on Sept. 7 in the Iranian capital Tehran on the same issue of the Syrian conflict.

On July 26, Erdogan had a one-on-one meeting with Putin in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the annual summit of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

On Sept. 17, the leaders met in Sochi, where they agreed to turn Syria's northwestern Idlib province into a demilitarized zone.

On Oct. 27, Erdogan and Putin also met on the four-nation summit on Syria between Turkey, Russia, Germany and France in Istanbul, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron were also present.

On Dec. 1, Erdogan had talks with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina.

- Turkish-Russian cooperation on energy

On April 3, Erdogan and Putin attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant via video conference call from the Presidential Complex in Ankara.

Akkuyu is set to be built by Russia in Turkey’s southern province of Mersin.

The plant, comprising of four units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, will meet about 10 percent of Turkey's electricity needs.

- S-400 missile deal with Russia

Turkey’s decision to make a $2.5-million purchase of two S-400 air defense systems with four batteries from Russia culminated in an agreement signed by both sides on Dec. 29, 2017.

This led to strong opposition from the U.S. which stipulated that Turkey scrap the deal as a precondition to its own sale of Patriot defense systems to Ankara.

Turkey has vehemently rejected Washington’s calls, with Erdogan saying on April 3 that the purchase was a decision for Turkey to make.

The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system and can carry three types of missiles capable of destroying targets including ballistic and cruise missiles.

The system can track and engage up to 300 targets at a time and has an altitude ceiling of 27 kilometers (17 miles).