16 August 2016•Update: 30 August 2016
MOSCOW
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday reiterated efforts to re-establish relations with Turkey.
Putin's remarks came during his meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Russia's Sochi.
"We sincerely make an effort for re-establishing of our relations in all dimensions with Turkey, the one who is our friend and we have been establishing cooperation for many years," Putin said.
Putin said Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's latest visit to Russia showed the both sides' desire to carry on a comprehensive work to revive and improve the relations.
Putin thanked Nazarbayev for his effort for the mending of Turkey-Russia relations. Nazarbayev, in his turn, expressed his appreciation about the reviving of Turkey-Russia relations.
Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Putin on Aug. 9 in St. Petersburg, marking the first meeting between the two leaders since Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane last November.
Relations between the two countries soured after the downing of a Russian jet that violated Turkey’s airspace on the Syrian border in November last year.
The issue seemed largely resolved on June 29 through a letter and subsequent telephone calls between the countries’ leaders.
On June 30, Russia lifted a ban on tourist flights to Turkey following a phone conversation between Putin and Erdogan.
Turkish and Russian foreign ministers later met in the Russian city of Sochi on July 1.
Putin gave his support to Turkey over 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 being taken.
(Reporting By Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan; Writing by Tutku Umac)
