ANKARA (AA) - Russian Federation's Ambassador in Ankara Petr Stegny said on Thursday that Turkey and Russia had been rivals in the past due to their geopolitical positions, yet stressed that the two countries started to be partners today.
Speaking to A.A correspondent, Stegny said relations between the two countries were in ''an extremely positive course'', stating that Russia attributed great importance to multi-dimensional partnership in bilateral relations.
Recalling that partnership concept was mentioned in the declaration signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin to Turkey, Stegny said partnership concept constituted the political philosophy of the relations in modern world.
Stegny said bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia were important as it constituted the part of a bigger security understanding in Eurasia.
''The world changes rapidly. Turkey and Russia are the biggest states of their regions. I think that bilateral relations are not only important for the people of our countries, but also for the region,'' Stegny stated.
''A new structure has been formed in our bilateral relations as a result of new geopolitical realities. We had been rivals in geopolitical sense in the past, now we become partners. This is not only the result of willingness of peoples of political will, it is a consequence of the new political situation in the world.''
Underlining that a new period has started in Turkish-Russian relations, Stegny said, ''I am not tired of reiterating this again. Peoples of our countries discover each other again. This is a new spirit.''
Stegny said there was a ''solid basis'' in bilateral relations, noting that trade volume between Turkey and Russia was expected to exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars.
Stegny said Turkish Trade Center would be inaugurated during scheduled visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia in January, and stressed that this center would have positive contributions to trade between the two countries.
Stegny said studies were underway on the details of the visit program.
-SPECIAL CALENDAR ON THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS-
Russian Embassy in Ankara prepared a special calendar for 2005 to mark the 85th anniversary of Turkish-Russian diplomatic relations.
The calendar included very special photographs collected by the archives of Turkey and Russia.
A signed photograph of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Modern Turkish Republic, is among those photographs sent to Soviet Ambassador of the time in 1929.
(AY-A֩
2004-12-30