Erdoğan declares Türkiye-Russia agreed gas trade in ruble

SOCHI

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared in his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that they agreed to make Russian natural gas imports in rubles.

“As we will make these purchases in the ruble, as a financial power source, Russia and Türkiye will win,” Erdoğan told reporters on board a presidential plane on Aug. 5, following a one-day working visit to Russia.

“There is also the Mir card of Russia. Currently, our five banks continue to work on this. There are also very serious developments here. This, of course, is a very comfortable process for tourists coming from Russia,” Erdoğan said.

This system is comfortable not only for the Russian tourists but also for Türkiye, he added. Erdoğan noted that the president of the Central Bank of Russia and the head of the Turkish Central Bank also held meetings.

Türkiye would welcome every investor around the World, including the Russian ones, the president said.

“As Türkiye, our door is open to everyone. Whoever wants to invest in our country, we give them all kinds of support, as Türkiye is the most important open door of the free market economy in the world,” Erdoğan stated.

Turkish-Russian relations have always succeeded in overcoming the challenges they face through dialogue and cooperation, the president said, adding: “The mutual understanding based on mutual trust and respect that we established with Mr. Putin is the guarantee of our relations.”

“What is important under current conditions is to maintain and advance our relations on the basis of our common interests and within the international system,” he said. In his meeting with Putin, they exchanged ideas on the further development of bilateral commercial and economic cooperation, Erdoğan added.

Ankara is determined to ensure that the bilateral trade volume reaches a more balanced ground between the two countries, Erdoğan said. He also noted that a memorandum of understanding regarding the economic and commercial relations was signed in Sochi by Trade Minister Mehmet Muş and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak.

Erdoğan said they also discussed with his Russian counterpart the steps to be taken against terrorist organizations in Syria and agreed to take necessary steps to protect Syria’s territorial integrity.

“We agreed on the decision to give the necessary response to our fight against those who threaten Syria’s territorial integrity, these herds of murderers who attacked our soldiers, police, security forces and civilian citizens, along with our Syrian brothers,” Erdoğan said.

Asked about plans to launch a new military operation into Syria, Erdoğan said Putin maintains a “fair approach” towards Türkiye on the issue.

“He specifically states that he will always be with us in the fight against terrorism. He has an approach like, ‘If you prefer to solve them together with the regime as much as possible, it will be much more accurate,’” he said.

In response, Ankara says that the intelligence organization of Türkiye and Syria were already dealing with these issues, “but the whole point is to get results,” Erdoğan said.

Ankara stresses that if the attacks by the YPG continue towards Turkish elements despite its intelligence is carrying out this work with the Syrian intelligence, then Russia should support Türkiye in this matter, Erdoğan said and added, “We also have an agreement on this matter.”

Ankara “witnesses the positive reflections” of its dialogue with Russia in the Caucasus, Syria and Ukraine, he said and noted that the initiative to export Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea is the latest global example of this.

“What is important now is the sound implementation of the plan and the transformation of the positive atmosphere into concrete steps towards a return to the negotiations in Istanbul,” the president said, adding that he renewed Putin his offer to bring him and the Ukrainian president together in Türkiye.

Citing a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan in September, Erdoğan said he would also attend the meeting.