Turkish, Russian top diplomats meet in Russia's Sochi

By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

SOCHI, Russia (AA) - Turkish and Russian foreign ministers met in the Russian city of Sochi Friday in an effort to boost the process of normalization of bilateral ties.

Mevlut Cavusoglu became the first Turkish minister to visit Russia since the Nov. 24 crisis began when Turkey downed a Russian plane that violated its airspace.

Cavusoglu held a private meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Rus Hotel, where the Black Sea Economic Cooperation meeting is taking place.

In remarks made to the media before the meeting, Cavusoglu highlighted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's letter and phone call to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, moves which he termed as “positive”.

"We have been ordered to follow topics discussed during conversations between the two presidents in order to take the relations on a desired level," he said.

The two top diplomats, who last met on Dec. 3 in Belgrade during the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting, later held their private talks, which lasted 36 minutes.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Satuk Bugra Kutlugun contributed to this story from Ankara