Erdogan and Putin face to face for the second time in 2018

Ankara – Anatolia

Meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet for the second time this year 2018.

Erdogan will meet on the sidelines The summit, in which he participated as chairman of the current session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a series of meetings with leaders and participating leaders, including his Russian counterpart Putin.

Since the beginning of the year, Erdoğan and Putin have spoken 16 times over the phone and discussed the Syrian crisis, bilateral and economic relations and regional issues of common interest.

During this period, Erdogan and Putin exchanged condolences twice and came face to face on April 3 and 4 in Turkey.

At an official invitation from Erdogan, Putin visited the Turkish capital on April 3 and the two leaders then laid the foundation stone for the Geko nuclear project in the state of Mersin.

After laying the foundation stone of the project, Erdogan and Putin presided over the meeting of the Turkish-Russian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

A day later, Erdogan and Putin met again at a summit with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani to discuss Syrian affairs.

At the next meeting on the sidelines of the Brix summit today, the Syrian crisis and the latest developments in this country will be at the center of discussions between the leaders of the two countries.

Erdogan and Putin are expected to discuss issues that will be discussed at the upcoming Tehran summit on the Syrian crisis, such as the Sochi and Ankara summits.

Before leaving for Johannesburg to attend the BRICS summit, Erdogan said at a press conference that he would discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin full details of the Syrian file.

Erdogan added that developments in Syria, both in the region of Tel Refa & # 39; at or "Manbaj" in the north of the country, "are not currently in the required direction".

On the other hand, the Turkish president pointed out that "Afrin" and "Graplas" and "the door", "are the only areas in Syria where things are developing in the required direction."

"We want the Syrian people to be protected from attacks, especially those perpetrated by ferocious organizations, and we will work to ensure that protection by discussing these issues."