Erdoğan, Putin to meet soon, but no date set yet

ANKARA / MOSCOW

A meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has been planned, but no date has been set yet, officials from the two countries have said, amid the former’s negotiations with the United States over the withdrawal of American troops from Syria. 

The Kremlin said Jan. 9 that it expected Erdoğan to visit Russia for talks with Putin soon, but that no date had yet been agreed on. Turkish officials also confirmed the planned trip of Erdoğan to Russia.

“Mr. President will also visit Russia in the forthcoming period,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, referring to the meeting he said would take place in Russia which would have the same format as the previous tripartite summit in Sochi between the Turkish, Iranian and Russian presidents.

Russia and Turkey are both major players in the conflict in Syria and in September reached a demilitarization deal that staved off a Syrian army offensive against the Idlib region.

Turkey and Russia had held talks late December in order to synchronize policies in regards to Syria after a sudden decision by the U.S. to pull out all troops from the war-torn country. Erdoğan recently vowed to hold a cross-border operation into Syria in a bid to clear its borders from the YPG.