Germany welcomes Erdogan-Putin meeting

BERLIN (AA) – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has welcomed the recent rapprochement between Turkey and Russia, dismissing media reports claiming Ankara was distancing itself from NATO.

“It is good that after the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey last year, now there is a rapprochement,” Steinmeier told German daily Bild on Tuesday.

He said closer dialogue between regional powers was important to find a political solution to Syria's civil war.

“There won’t be a solution to the civil war in Syria without Moscow, and without Iran, Saudi Arabia or Turkey,” he said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin today in St. Petersburg, marking the first meeting between the two leaders since Turkey’s downing of the Russian warplane last November near the Syrian border.

The high-profile meeting, which comes after the defeated July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, has been interpreted in several Western media outlets as a sign that Ankara was seeking closer ties with Moscow, amid its frustration with its Western allies.

However Steinmeier argued that, contrary to various comments in Western media, Turkey’s closer dialogue with Russia would not undermine ties with NATO:

“I don’t believe that relations between the two countries would become so close that Russia could provide Turkey with an alternative to the security partnership of NATO," he said.

“Turkey is an important NATO partner, and it must remain so,” he added.

Erdogan has sharply criticized Western allies in recent weeks for taking a hesitant approach to the July 15 coup attempt and failing to show solidarity with the Turkish people.

Putin was among the first world leaders to support the Turkish government against the coup attempt.

Ankara has repeatedly said the coup attempt was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Russia has also been skeptical of the activities of Gulenists, and closed the movement’s schools in the country, believing they were CIA operations.

In Turkey, Gulen is accused of leading a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of state institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.

The July 15 coup attempt left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Approximately 13,000 members of the military, police, and judiciary as well as civil servants have been detained and 6,000 remanded in custody since the failed putsch, and tens of thousands of suspected Gulenists removed from their posts.