Erdogan does not understand what “first steps” Türkiye should make to establish relations with Russia

Officials of Turkey and Russia continue in absentia polemic on how to resume bilateral relations and cooperation, lost after the incident with a shot down Russian Su-24 in November last year. On the eve of the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Chavushoglu suggested creating a joint working group for this. However, the Kremlin considered this initiative insufficient. On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted that he does not understand what "first steps" Moscow is waiting for him, Reuters reports.

Being in the Izmir before flying to the African tour, the Turkish leader announced his desire to improve relations with Russia, but he does not understand exactly which “first step” in improving the relationship is expecting from Ankara Moscow. Erdogan noted that countries should work together to improve relations. At the same time, he expressed his anxiety by the fact that relations could be sacrificed due to the “pilot’s mistake”.

The day before, the Foreign Minister of Turkey recalled the recent words of the President of the Russian Federation regarding Russian-Turkish relations. "Putin states that he expects a step from the Turkish side in this matter. We also propose to create a joint working group where the future steps of the parties would be discussed," Cuphala said.

As an example of normalizing bilateral relations, Chavushoglu cited the interaction of Israel and Turkey. “Are we not negotiating with Israel? Meetings are held at the level of diplomats. Why? To discuss the conditions of steps that can be taken in the future,” the Turkish minister explained.

According to him, Türkiye turned to Russia with a similar proposal. “Let's start discussions at the official and unofficial levels and develop a“ middle ground. ”This is not an insoluble question,” Cupilus summed up.

In response to this, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that "no working group was able to solve this problem, this can do only the Turkish leadership, from which in Moscow the actions that President Putin spoke about in Athens."

Putin during a visit to Greece , held on May 27-28, announced the desire of Russia to resume relations with Turkey, despite the incident with the Su-24. At the same time, the President of the Russian Federation emphasized that Ankara never brought an apology for what happened, RIA Novosti reports. "We have not heard apologies. And we did not hear the readiness to compensate for the damage. We hear statements about the desire to resume (relations. - Approx. Newsru.com ). We also want to resume relations," the head of state said.

At the same time, Putin noted that Russia is expecting specific steps from Turkey. “We are in contact with the representatives of the Turkish side, partners go through different channels. They know our answer. We are waiting for any specific steps on their part. So far they are not,” the president said.

Earlier, the Ministry of Tourism of Turkey reported that the country marks a sharp decrease in the tourist flow - to the minimum level over the past 17 years. The department noted that the decline occurred mainly due to tourists from Russia and Western countries, who refuse to go to Turkish resorts due to safety problems. In addition, the diplomatic crisis in relations with Moscow played a role.

The relations of Russia and Turkey deteriorated at the end of November 2015, when the Turkish fighter shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber, who participated in surgery in Syria. After that, Moscow introduced a number of economic sanctions against Ankara. The Russian Foreign Ministry recommended that the Russians not visit Turkey, because this is a "potentially unsafe country." In connection with the recommendations of the Foreign Ministry, Rosturism forbade Russian tour operators to sell tours to Turkey. At the same time, the air service between the countries was not interrupted.

In early April, the deputy head of Rosturism Roman Skory said that this year the Russians would not return to Turkey and Egypt. And the Russian President Vladimir Putin during a direct line recalled that there was a civil war in southern Turkey.