Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey on Monday upon an invitation from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and the recognition by the United States of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Turkish presidency said on Friday.
Erdogan, who concluded a two-day visit to Greece on Friday - the first for Turkish president in 65 years - made a telephone call to Putin on Thursday evening, focusing on US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Turkish president told his Russian counterpart that the international community and the United Nations have rejected Israel’s decision in 1980 to annex Jerusalem and stressed that the recent US decision on Jerusalem negatively affected the peace and stability of the region.
According to sources in the Turkish presidency, Putin said he shared Erdogan’s stance in this regard and assured that he would follow up on the related developments and maintain close talks between the two countries on bilateral and international issues.
The meeting between Erdogan and Putin on Monday will be the eighth between the two presidents this year. The last meeting was held in Sochi on November 23, with the participation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and was aimed to discuss the Syrian crisis.
Turkish sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Turkish and Russian presidents would continue on Monday discussions over the de-escalation zones in Idlib and the situation in the city of Afrin, as well as the Syrian national dialogue conference, which will be held in the Russian city of Sochi in February.
