Russian FM Sergey Lavrov (L) and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. AFP file photo
ANKARA, Turkey—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that their two countries remain partners and that Moscow and Ankara are working on lifting certain visa requirements, military cooperation and finding a constitutional solution for war-torn Syria.
"Turkey is one of Russia's key partners, we see an increase in our economic relations. And we intend to build up our military-technical cooperation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, Sputnik reported.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow the two foreign ministers said that both countries worked on "practical cooperation" in military-technical fields as well as automotive, agriculture and banking.
Lavrov said that Russia and Turkey were working on reaching an agreement on a reciprocal visa policy for their respective citizens.
"We have reaffirmed Russia's readiness to negotiate the facilitation of trips for certain categories of Turkish citizens on a reciprocal basis and will do so in the near future. We have agreed to create a mechanism for consultations on preparing agreements on this issue," he said, according to Sputnik.
Amid deteriorating relations between Turkey and the United States Ankara appears drifting towards America’s traditional rivals such as China and Russia.
Turkish Foreign Minister Cavuslogu and Lavrov reported that they also discussed the situation in Syria and the need to find a solution for the crisis through previous peace talks.
"We discussed international problems, focused on Syria, reviewed implementation of the agreements reached within the framework of the Astana format at the highest level, at the level of experts, reviewed implementation of the decisions by the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue that took place in Sochi within the framework of creating a constitutional commission, this work continues. We discussed the tasks of its prompt completion," Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister revealed that their military and intelligence agencies were working together on the situation in Syria, particularly in Idlib.
He told reporters, "These issues [situation in Idlib] are being discussed between foreign ministries, they are being discussed between our military, intelligence services, the [Turkish] defense minister is now in Moscow. We have not finished this work today, we will have an additional meeting with the participation of all our colleagues.”
For his part, the Turkish foreign minister said, according to Sputnik, that Turkey wanted to eliminate terrorist groups from Idlib without harming the city’s civilian population and refugees seeking shelter there.
“While eliminating terrorists, it is unacceptable to harm the lives of civilians," Cavusoglu said. "This can provoke a flow of refugees, drama, a human catastrophe.”
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