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Russian President Putin due in Turkey Dec. 3

11 October 2012 20:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was originally scheduled to visit Turkey on Oct. 14-15, will be in Turkey on Dec. 3, the Turkish Prime Ministry said on Thursday, APA reports quoting Today’s Zaman.

The statement said Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan spoke by phone on Monday and that the visit was delayed upon Putin’s request until Dec. 3.

Putin is set to visit Turkey for a meeting of the Turkey-Russia High Level Cooperation Council, which was established in 2010.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄŸlu said the postponement of the Russian president’s visit to Turkey has no connection with â€˜any crisis,â€ referring to the disagreement between the two countries on the Syrian conflict.

â€œThe postponement of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey has nothing to do with any crisis. The visit will take place in the weeks to come,â€ DavutoÄŸlu said late on Wednesday.

The Prime Ministry’s announcement comes one day after the interception of a Syrian passenger plane which was forced to land in the Turkish capital on suspicions of carrying weapons and military equipment.

A Syrian Air Airbus A320 traveling from Moscow was intercepted by two Turkish F-16 warplanes as it entered Turkish airspace and was escorted to land at Ankara’s EsenboÄŸa International Airport.

Turkish authorities confiscated part of the cargo aboard the Syrian airliner for examination before letting the plane resume its journey.

Moscow on Thursday accused Ankara of endangering Russian lives by intercepting the plane, which Russia’s arms exports agency said was not carrying any of its cargo.