Russian President Vladimir Putin visited TehranThere he met the Presidents of Turkey and Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ibrahim Raisi, and the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The situation in Syria was discussed.
The recording, made shortly before Erdogan’s meeting with Putin, shows the Turkish president deciding to “expose” the Russian leader and making him wait in front of cameras and photojournalists. It was seen as revenge for a similar humiliation suffered by Putin during a meeting two years earlier. The Russian president is known to be late for talks with foreign leaders – this was perceived as a desire to show dominance and throw the “adversary” off balance. Putin’s nervousness can be seen in the video.
Erdogan said during a meeting with Putin and Raisi in Tehran that he was calling for unity in the fight against Kurdish militants and the network of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed military coup in 2016.
Rest of the text below the video.
Turkey’s president plans another military operation against the Kurds, accusing them of trying to divide Syria. He added that he recognized Russia and Iran’s concern for Turkey’s security, but that “words are not enough” and that Ankara would continue its fight against Kurdish militants.
Erdogan, Putin and Raisi are set to talk about the conflict in Syria, in which Iran has backed opposition fighters and Turkey and Russia have backed President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
The topic of negotiations was also the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. According to the Kremlin statement, Putin thanked Erdogan for mediating the issue and arranged talks in Istanbul between representatives of the defense ministries of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine, which will continue.
After the meeting, Putin announced that Russia, Turkey and Iran had agreed to continue their efforts to “normalize” the situation in Syria. He said Tehran and Moscow were discussing the possibility of settling accounts in national currencies in bilateral trade. Referring to the plan to block Ukrainian grain exports, he assessed that not all disputes had been resolved.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes the ongoing war in Ukraine will weaken Russia’s position in Syria.. Vladimir Putin is the most important ally of the Syrian regime, and without his support it would have collapsed. For Putin, it was his first visit outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24.
During his visit to Tehran, Putin met with a NATO head of state for the first time since the announcement of “special military action”. Putin and Erdogan were to discuss an agreement to resume grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea and peace in Syria.
(Sources: Twitter, Onet, PAP)
Date Created: Today, 23:02