Moscow ready to cooperate with Turkey against terrorism

MOSCOW

Russia is ready to cooperate with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.

"Terrorism is a global threat and we should join our forces against it," Lavrov said in a message sent to a joint international conference organized in the Russian capital Moscow by two Turkish and Russian think-tanks.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said that Russia had never denied providing military aid to Syria, and was ready to fight against all "constructive" groups fighting Daesh.

"We are in Syria in accordance with the request of the Damascus administration," Meshkov said.

Russia began flying combat missions over Syria on September 30 following an escalation in its military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Despite claiming to be targeting Daesh, the U.S. and its allies have complained of Russian airstrikes on “moderate” forces fighting Assad.

In remarks made following the recent incursions by Russian aircraft into Turkish airspace, Turkish Deputy Undersecretary of Foreign Ministry Ali Kemal Aydin said that Turkey "sincerely" believed that necessary steps would be taken to ensure that such incidents did not happen again, and cooperation would resume between the two countries.

"We prefer to focus on projects that appeal to joint interests with Russia, not on points where we disagree," Aydin said at the conference.

There have been two incursions by Russian aircraft into Turkish airspace, one on Oct. 3, and one on the following day. Each time Turkish F-16 jets intercepted the Russian fighters forcing them to turn back.

Turkey has formally protested against the incursions, which Moscow said was due to "bad weather conditions”.

Turkish Foreign Ministry has also made the demand for Russian officials to visit Turkey and brief Turkish officials about the violation over the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkish and Russian diplomats, academics and businessmen attended the Thursday conference co-organized by the Center for Strategic Research of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SAM), and the Russian International Affairs Council.

Held under the theme "Russia and Turkey: Forging Multidimensional Partnership," the conference was held on the 95th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.