Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met on Monday in Russia\u2019s southern coastal city of Sochi amid efforts to bring Moscow back into the critical Black Sea grain deal that was abandoned by Putin in July. <\/p>\n
Television footage showed the two men smiling and shaking hands upon Erdogan\u2019s arrival to Putin\u2019s residence, where the Russian president suggested that he take a vacation in the Black Sea resort. <\/p>\n
In remarks ahead of their talks, Putin told Erdogan that Russia is \u201copen to negotiations\u201d on the grain deal. <\/p>\n
Their discussions were also expected to tackle a proposal from Moscow to supply one million tons of Russian grain to Turkey, which with financial assistance from Qatar would then be distributed to countries most in need, the official Russian news agency TASS said. <\/p>\n
The supply of natural gas from Russia to Turkey was also expected be part of Monday\u2019s talks, according to TASS. <\/p>\n
After several hours of talks, Erdogan told a joint news conference that he and his Russian counterpart \u201cwill be able to reach a solution which fulfils the expectations soon.\u201d Putin said that his country will be ready to consider reviving the grain deal \u201cas soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products are fully implemented.\u201d <\/p>\n
The first in-person meeting between the two leaders in nearly a year took place amid what experts say is a possible reconfiguration of the Erdogan-Putin \u201cspecial relationship,\u201d as the Turkish strongman feels more secure in his final term in office. <\/p>\n
Erdogan and Putin last met face-to-face in October on the sidelines of an Asia summit in the Kazakh capital Astana. Today, they met as Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine enters its 19th month, and as Erdogan voices clear support for Ukraine\u2019s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which Ankara is already a member. <\/p>\n
The two men have long boasted a close friendship marked by shared interests and a keenness to challenge Western dominance, but Erdogan has in recent months taken steps that were not to Putin\u2019s liking. <\/p>\n
During Erdogan\u2019s campaign, Putin agreed to defer gas payments as Ankara grappled with a pinching economic crisis. The Russian leader also inaugurated Turkey\u2019s first nuclear plant in a virtual ceremony that only solidified Moscow\u2019s support for Erdogan, while his election rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu was seen as too friendly with the West. <\/p>\n
Ahead of his re-election, Erdogan hailed his \u201cspecial\u201d relationship with Putin as Western states pressured Ankara to join sanctions against Moscow. Turkey is the only NATO member that has not imposed sanctions on Russia. <\/p>\n
But having secured his presidential seat, Erdogan now feels emboldened, said Asli Aydintasbas, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. While the Turkish president may not be entirely \u201cpivoting\u201d to the West, he has shown an interest in improving Western ties, which have soured in recent years, she said. <\/p>\n
In July, Turkey allowed the transfer home of Ukrainian commanders captured by Russia last year. The prisoners were flown back from Turkey where they been held since September under an agreement reached with Russia. Moscow at the time denounced their release, saying their transfer violated that deal. <\/p>\n
Erdogan has also strongly backed Ukraine\u2019s prospects of joining NATO, having stalled the membership of Finland and Sweden, which had irked Western allies. <\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO,\u201d Erdogan said in July, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia said it was closely watching. Earlier in March, Turkey approved Finland\u2019s NATO membership bid, and is continuing to negotiate Sweden\u2019s application. <\/p>\n
Putin may have shown discontent with some of Erdogan\u2019s recent actions, but he likely continues to value his ties with Turkey as his only \u201cwindow\u201d to the West, Ulgen said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe change in the power relationship, which is to the detriment of Putin and to the benefit of Erdogan,\u201d Ulgen said, has allowed Erdogan to \u201ccapitalize on a wider space\u201d when it comes to his ties with Russia. <\/p>\n
The two men see eye-to-eye on several key policies, especially the need to rebalance perceived Western hegemony over global affairs. <\/p>\n
For Erdogan, Turkey\u2019s close ties with Russia have helped counter reliance on the West and have even bolstered Turkey\u2019s international stature as a crucial buffer between East and West. <\/p>\n
The reconfigured power balance between the two leaders could yet yield positive results with the efforts to revive the Black Sea grain deal, experts say. <\/p>\n
The two leaders\u2019 asymmetrical relationship has normally been defined with \u201cPutin on top,\u201d Aydintasbas said, adding that as Russia looks weaker, Erdogan is trying to increase Turkey\u2019s influence in certain areas \u201cwithout clashing with Putin.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cErdogan will make a case for the grain deal,\u201d Aydintasbas said, \u201csaying: this is good for you (Putin) and me (Erdogan). And me (Erdogan) looking good is important for you.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the delicate balancing act,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met on Monday in Russia\u2019s southern coastal city of Sochi amid efforts to bring Moscow back into the critical Black Sea grain deal that was abandoned by Putin in July. Television footage showed the two men smiling and shaking hands upon Erdogan\u2019s arrival to Putin\u2019s <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}