Lavrov Meets Turkish Counterpart Amid Thaw In Ties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met his Turkish counterpart amid a thawing of recently tense bilateral relations.

Lavrov held talks with Mevlut Cavusoglu in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on July 1.

Cavusoglu said Turkey and Russia should work together for a political solution to the Syria crisis.

Quoted by the RIA news agency, Cavusoglu said Ankara is fighting directly against the Islamic State extremist group, which is why Turkey is a target for terrorists.

On June 28, three suicide bombers attacked an airport in Istanbul, killing 43 people and injuring more than 200.

After the meeting, Lavrov said that Moscow and Ankara have agreed to restore their antiterror cooperation and military contacts, which were cut when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border in November.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 27 that included condolences to the killed pilot’s family.

Two days later, Putin and Erdogan held their first phone talks since the November incident.