In his speech at the group assembly of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Yildirim said significant progress has been made in Turkey’s relations with Russia, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.
The PM noted that the indirect contacts have finally produced positive results.
“Mutual contacts resulted in ice-melting in Turkish-Russian ties. There are others who helped bilateral relations [with Russia] reach this level. We owe special gratitude to our brothers Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as well as the leaders of other countries in the region,” he added.