MOSCOW/ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said, ''Turkey and Russia discover each other again.''
Gul returned to Turkey late on Thursday after completing his three-day visit to Russian capital Moscow.
Reminding the journalists that he was received by President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Tuesday, Gul said, ''Russian president received a Turkish foreign minister for the first time. Earlier, Putin did not receive even prime ministers of Turkey.''
Noting that many issues were taken up frankly and honestly at the meeting, Gul told reporters, ''a date will be set for President Putin's visit to Turkey following presidential elections in Russia.''
Stressing that both Turkish and Russian sides had the will to further improve their bilateral relations, Gul said that Turkey-Russia relations would reach to an unpredictable level after a decade.
Pointing out that Turkey and Russia discovered each other again, Gul added that Turkey-Russia relations would become much more different than their relations in the past.
Recalling that State Minister Kursad Tuzmen was scheduled to leave for Moscow in May as the co-president of Turkey-Russia Joint Economic Commission (JEC), Gul replied to a question about increase in mutual trade balance between the two countries against Turkey, ''it reveals that Turkish businessmen should work more. Russian businessmen told us not to forget shuttle trade and tourism.''
When asked whether or not intense traffic in the Straits was brought onto agenda of his meetings in Moscow, Gul told reporters, ''it was taken up at our meetings with both President Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. I told them that it was necessary to construct pipelines to by-pass the Straits to resolve all problems. When you discuss problems sincerely, you can find solutions easily.''
(UK-AÖ) 27.02.2004