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Russian, Turkish foreign ministers may meet in China

27 April 2016 19:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu can meet in China, Turkish Ambassador to Russia Umit Yardim said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting TASS.

"The meeting may take place in China," Yardim said. "Our aim is to promote political rapprochement between the two countries."

He also said Russia and Turkey could exchange delegations formed by presidential administrations.

"This will help us sort out the current situation," he said. "We need to launch the dialogue today or in the nearest future."

Lavrov is going to China on Wednesday to attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Turkish Ambassador to Russia voiced confidence that difficulties in relations with Russia would be overcome. Speaking at the Moscow Union of Journalists, the diplomat noted that "if we do not take into account and pay due attention to the well-adjusted structure of our relations focusing solely on today, that will be a huge mistake, as problems may emerge not only between Russia and Turkey but also between any other countries."

"The most critical and important principle is to look into the future," the ambassador said. "Our relations with Russia extend back nearly 1,000 years, we have 500 years of official relations," the diplomat said. "We are convinced that we will overcome these difficulties. It is necessary to maintain pace and continue to develop our relations." "I do not deny the existing geopolitical realities that Turkey is a country that holds negotiations to join the EU and is a member of NATO," the ambassador said. "But this, of course, does not mean that we ignore relations with Russia and push them into the background."