World
August 10, 11:43 UTC+3

http://tass.ru/en/world/893468

The Turkish foreign minister notes the two countries plan to cooperate in the military sphere

ANKARA, August 10. /TASS/. Turkey and Russia have common views on political settlement in Syria, including issues of observing ceasefire and delivering humanitarian aid, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

"We (with Russia) have similar views on the ceasefire in Syria, humanitarian aid and political settlement," Anadolu Agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

Moscow and Ankara "are building mechanisms of close cooperation on Syria settlement," he added.

"We already have established mechanisms on Syria with Russia, between the militaries, foreign ministries and intelligence services. Representatives of these structures will come to Russia today and hold talks," Cavusoglu said. He noted that the two countries plan to establish "a more effective mechanism in the future and maintain contacts at a higher level."

The Turkish foreign minister noted that the two countries also plan to cooperate in the military sphere, as well as in intelligence and diplomacy.

However, Cavusoglu noted that "there may be some disagreements" on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad should stay in power. "Instead of criticizing each other on this matter, we should search for possibilities to bring close our dialogue on current issues. We will contribute to resolving Syria’s problems. It is necessary to achieve observance of ceasefire in Syria immediately," he concluded.

On Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for the first time today after Turkish Air Force downed a Su-24 bomber that took part in the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces’ counter-terrorist operation in Syria on 24 November 2015.

Russia demanded apologies, a compensation and to punish those guilty. Moscow severed contacts with Ankara until Turkey agreed to fulfill the demands. In July, Erdogan wrote a letter to Putin apologizing for the incident.

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Erdogan Exclusive: New page in Russia-Turkey relations

http://tass.ru/en/world/893204

World
August 09, 9:19 UTC+3
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of Turkey, interviewed by TASS First Deputy Director-General Mikhail Gusman

Ahead of the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an interview with TASS commented on Moscow-Ankara relations, the military coup attempt, the Kurdish question, Syrian peace settlement and anti-terrorism efforts.

- Mr. President, thank you for the opportunity to have this meeting. We are talking literally hours before your visit to Russia, to St. Petersburg, where you are scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has already said that joint steps to restore relations between our countries, including a wide range of issues from the economy to Syria, will be in focus. There is a great deal for you to discuss. That’s Russia’s vision. What is your agenda? How do you foresee the forthcoming talks?

- Mr. Gusman, thank you very much. It is true that ahead of the visit scheduled for Tuesday I am very grateful for the opportunity this meeting offers to express our own viewpoint, how things look to us in Turkey.

It has been eight months since the tragic downing of the Russian jet. Over this period our cooperation continued along a number of lines. As you know, in the context of Russian-Turkish relations we had planned to build up bilateral trade to $100 billion. There’ve been difficulties with that. A number of our major projects, including the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, have been suspended. I am certain that we will have an opportunity to discuss all these aspects and that a new page in Russian-Turkish relations will be opened. This new leaf to be turned over will include cooperation in the military field, in the economy and in culture. Our countries are key players in the region and they are going to accomplish a great deal together. It is with this conviction that I will arrive in Russia on a visit. I don’t have the slightest doubt that Mr. Putin has been making preparations for the visit in the same fashion, and I would like to say this using the opportunities of your television channel.

I envision this visit as a new landmark in bilateral relations, a clean slate from which to start anew. On behalf of myself and the Turkish nation, I cordially greet Mr. Putin and all Russians.

- Mr. President, of course it is a great pleasure to hear what you’ve just said. You mentioned a tragic page in our relations – the death of our pilot. I know that this episode caused ache in the hearts of all Russians. You surely understand this, Mr. President. So my question to you is who in your opinion is to blame and will the perpetrators be punished?

- I’ve already had a chance to explain our stance in the letter I had sent. I said that this event was a great misfortune to us and it deeply upset us. The culprits in what happened in Syrian territory have been detained and brought to justice already. The investigation is continuing. In fact, I conveyed that in my message. As for the pilots, I ordered a probe into the circumstances that occurred beyond the bounds of our customary rules of response. You also know that the man who caused the Russian pilot’s death, who killed the Russian pilot, is now in custody. He is standing trial. I would like to emphasize that.

- Just recently Turkey, the people of Turkey, and you personally experienced a very dramatic moment, of course. There was an attempted coup against the government. As far as I understand, you managed to suppress the coup by relying on the will of the people, first and foremost. These days we can see rallies in your support. You managed to establish stability in Turkey. Very many people, tens of thousands are under arrest and investigation. In a situation like this how did you manage to quash the rebellion? On the other hand, the large number of those arrested may possibly indicate that “anti-government forces”, let us refer to them as such, could have taken deep root in Turkish society.

- Those who tried to stage this coup against the government and the people, failed to take into account key factors. Although they had penetrated deeply into government agencies, the army, the police and the judiciary, we have police and military servicemen who refused to join the coup plotters. There were also judges and prosecutors who refused to join, too. Yet, the most important thing that we have, is our nation, a people such as ours. The plotters never took into account the will of our people. They never even imagined that our people would not hesitate to stop tanks with their bodies. They failed to take that into account. Not once did the thought enter their minds that these people would stand firm despite bombs being dropped on them from planes, or helicopters opening fire on them. At the moment, 240 are listed dead and about 2,200 others injured. Some of the survivors are still in intensive care. These people’s hearts are filled with a burning love for their country; they were ready to sacrifice themselves. That’s why they took to the streets, women and even elderly people. The young as well, take a look at those killed –15-year-old youths were among them.

Amid these events, I received a phone call from Mr. Putin already on the second day. As we talked he said that he was against the coup and would remain on our side. I recall his high-principled position with gratitude and I thank him on behalf of myself and the Turkish people.

All world leaders must resist treason, government coup attempts and attacks on their own people. Mr. Putin acted quickly and practically without delay. Once again, I express my gratitude to him.

- In this connection there is one question I would like to make clear. As you may know some media outlets in and outside of Russia carried reports that Russia and its secret services had conveyed some sort of warning, that they had notified the special services that preparations for a government coup were underway. The question I want to ask you does this scenario conform to reality.

This is the first time that I have heard such a thing. Even if it had really been so, those concerned would have been obliged to inform me first thing. I received no such information, not from intelligence, nor through any other channels. We don’t know who said what and to whom. I believe that this is a groundless rumor.

- As far as I know, Turkey has asked the United States twice or possibly more to extradite Mr. Gulen, who, to my knowledge was one of the failed coup plotters. There’s been no response from the United States so far. If the US refuses to meet Turkey’s request, how do you see future relations with Washington?

- It would be wrong to approach this question from that standpoint. At the moment, the process of negotiations is continuing. Earlier, I addressed Mr. Obama with such a request. Whenever you demanded that we should extradite terrorists, I told them, we satisfied those demands. The head of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (led by Fethullah Gulen) has been in your country (the United States) since 1999.

Regrettably, at a certain point we had provided full support for him and his team. They were saying that they were involved in some activities in the field of education, and that they worked for the future of our country. Regrettably, they did not proceed along these lines. It was a cover-up. Then we realized that they were moving in a different direction. I had suspected there was something wrong about that from the very start. They were opening private schools. Moreover, the activities at such educational establishments were far from positive. In fact they were working in a very negative way. Their activity was entirely centered on profit-seeking. We failed to pay proper attention to that when I was prime minister.

Starting from 2010 we had begun to crack down on this problem, by closing down such establishments, but much more of them were cropping up. When such schools were shut down, we arranged to compensate people by setting up weekend courses. Our people started going there because they did not have to spend much money. Many of them are poor and we saved them. Also, it was a source of extra income for our teachers.

In reality, even though we have demanded this man’s extradition. They say if you regard this man as a terrorist, then send us the documents. We will study them first and then take measures in accordance with US legislation. True, there are some documents we had sent them before. By now we’ve sent 85 boxfuls of paperwork on this case. In the near future, the Turkish justice minister, foreign minister, special envoy and a number of prosecutors and judges who were in charge of this matter will go to the United States and brief the American authorities in person.

- I know, Mr. President, that you pay much attention to creating Turkey’s new fundamental law, the new Constitution. You are the architect of the new legislation. What fundamentally new features will the new Constitution have? Should the people adopt it at your initiative? And how will this Constitution reconcile the traditions of a secular Turkish state with the Muslim religion?

- Turkey is a secular, democratic and social state ruled by law.

I don’t know what you understanding of secularism is. We understand secularism as a state of affairs that allows an individual of any religion to feel free to profess his or her faith. We declared that very clearly from the outset when we established our party. In other words, Christians, Muslims and Jews are free to profess their faith without restrictions. Muslims account for 99% of Turkey’s population. Everybody knows that Russia’s population is mostly Christian.

All citizens of our country are guaranteed freedom of conscience, just as they are in Russia. These guarantees are established by our Constitution. Turkey is not a clerical state. One should remember that. Alongside secular features, our state has a social-democratic basis. For some reason, the West confuses these notions and keeps hinting that Turkey is about to change its secular foundation. But that won’t be. We have repeatedly proven that by action over the past 14 years that we have been in power. We must fight against such prejudices. The processes that are afoot in European society are also in progress within Turkish society. But there is a certain system of values. Attention should be paid to it, but we do not dictate it to all social strata. Each individual lives one’s own life, believes in things that he deems right and acts in the way he regards as proper. The government guarantees this right on a permanent basis. Regarding respect for and guaranteeing democratic rights and freedoms, Turkey is beyond comparison, even next to EU countries.

- And another issue, which seems to be painful, Mr. President, a burning issue for Turkey and a troublesome one for you, is the Kurdish question. That topic has existed for a long time and it has long been discussed in Turkish society, in addition to being discussed in the world. The issue of how to settle the Kurdish question.

- I don’t know what you mean by the Kurdish issue. At present, our Kurdish citizens, my Kurdish brothers are not concentrated under the roof of one certain party. My citizens of Kurdish origin voted in the largest numbers for my party. There are ministers of Kurdish origin in the government.

The political movement, which ascribes to itself leadership in uniting the Kurds, unfortunately, has only oppressed the Kurdish people, dragged it into the streets and, regrettably, was the cause of 53 Kurdish deaths, who were citizens of our country. Those who died are Kurds and those who killed them are also Kurds. For example, a 15-year-old citizen of Kurdish origin, Yasin Beruk, was thrown out of the third floor only because he was giving out meat to the poor.

Among politicians, I visit this region more frequently than others. And I have been doing this for decades. My relations with citizens of my county of Kurdish origin are entirely unique. Further on, my position won’t change. Unfortunately, investors and entrepreneurs are not coming to that region due to the waves of terror, which that party has provoked. They simply can’t go there. Why? Because of the terrorists. But we’re cleaning up the region thanks to the operations that we have been carrying out.

Following these clean-up operations, we have begun a new stage: the process of urbanization. I hope that investors and businessmen will come there and start investing in the region thanks to new urbanized territories and also security provision measures. During the first stage, we began constructing social housing units and modernizing infrastructure. There are a large number of municipalities in that region claiming to represent the interests of Kurdish citizens. All of them are supplying weapons to terrorist organizations and providing them with money. So, I ask you are such things possible in the Russian Federation? Would the Russian leadership allow this? Would it allow terrorists to act? Unfortunately, in our country, they are carrying out terrorist activity. We’ll continue fighting them by any means and we’ll try to neutralize them like the Gulen terrorist organization, which we’re trying to eradicate. Additionally, they are acting in unison with each other.

I will also need the support of my dear and respected friend, Vladimir [Russian President [Vladimir Putin] in the joint struggle against terrorism in that region. Regarding the issue of cooperation with Russia in that direction, we’re ready to take all the necessary steps.

- Mr. President, both you and those in Russia have said that the Syrian settlement will be among the most important issues that will be discussed in St. Petersburg. How do you see a solution to this issue? This is a very burdensome issue for Russia, for you and for the entire world. How do you see it?

- I’ll tell you in a frank and straightforward manner. Basically, Russia is fundamentally the key and most important player in establishing peace in Syria. I believe it is necessary to solve this crisis with the help of mutual action by Russia and Turkey. If the talk is about widening the circle of participants, then I already told my dear friend Vladimir [Putin] earlier: if necessary, we’ll also involve Iran in the effort. We can invite Qatar, Saudi Arabia and America. In this regard, we can form a wide circle of participants. If not, then the Russian Federation and Turkey given our common 950-km border with Syria, can take some steps, without violating Syria’s sovereignty.

More at source:

http://tass.ru/en/world/893204

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IZAKOVIC