A Russian-Turkish deal on Moscow supplying Ankara with its S-400 air defense systems will be finalized this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said following his meeting with the Russian president in Ankara.
Russian and Turkish officials will be meeting to seal the deal, Erdogan told the media in the Turkish capital where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin Monday. The Russian leader also confirmed that “perspectives for wider military and technical cooperation” were discussed during the bilateral negotiations.
Putin said they had an “open and constructive conversation,” adding that further steps to enhance trade and economic ties had been explored.
Views on bilateral relations as well as regional issues were exchanged, the two leaders told journalists. Pointing out that Moscow and Ankara “have a similar approach” towards a number of burning issues in the Middle East, Putin and Erdogan outlined their positions on developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the situation in Syria.
Washington’s decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “does not help to settle the situation in the Middle East,” Putin said. The Russian president said Donald Trump’s move undermines efforts for a peaceful solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wipes out all positive accomplishments of the peace process thus far. Resolving the long-running conflict should be “a result of direct talks between the Palestinians and Israelis,” the Russian president underlined.
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Erdogan called the US decision a “reckless move,” saying it “provoked indignation” not only among Muslims and Christians, but also among Jews. “Israel is putting more and more pressure on Palestinians,” he said. Turkey’s president once again urged for international condemnation of Washington’s policies in the region.