The bad blood between Turkey and Russia over the November downing of a Russian fighter jet over Turkey is all but forgotten as Turkish president Recep Tayip Ergodan is to meet with “his friend” Vladimir Putin in the latter's home town of St. Petersburg in hopes of turning a fresh page in the two countries’ relations. It will be their first meeting since diplomatic relations between the two nations turned icy cold late last year. In a slap to the face of its Western friends, as the FT puts it, instead of visiting a Nato ally, Erdogan's first trip abroad since surviving last month’s coup attempt the Turkish president is going to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
In a dramatic pivot by Turkey, the summit has taken on broader geopolitical significance. “The west is criticising Erdogan over his crackdown in the wake of the coup, and Erdogan is denouncing them over that,” said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Centre. “This tension between Turkey and its Nato allies is extremely beneficial to Russia.” The rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara began in June, before the coup attempt, when the Kremlin accepted Mr Erdogan’s apology for the downing of the aircraft over Turkey’s shared border with Syria. Within days, officials from both countries had begun talks to roll back sanctions Russia imposed on Turkey following the incident the FT adds.
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