UPDATE - Erdogan-Putin meet at G20 Hamburg Summit

UPDATES WITH ERDOGAN'S STATEMENTS

By Ilkay Guder

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish and Russian presidents met Saturday within the scope of G20 Hamburg Summit in Germany.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believes the economic relations between the two countries, the developments at tourism and defense industry will bring bilateral relations to a much more strong position.

"Above all, the expectations at the region regarding Syria and Iraq are very high. I place importance to our meeting also from that point," Erdogan emphasized.

The meeting between the two leaders lasted for approximately 1 hour.

The leaders of world’s 20 major economies are holding the two-day summit in Hamburg where they discuss the global economy, climate change, the fight against terrorism and other international issues.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov also participated in the meeting along with other officials from both sides.