Erdogan plans to hold talks with Putin

President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (photo: Getty Images)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will participate in the summit of heads of state and governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana on July 3-4, where he plans to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to haberturk.

According to the Turkish edition haberturk, the summit's agenda will include the Russian-Ukrainian war, enhancing the functionality of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the latest situation at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, the gas hub to be created in Thrace, and the electoral initiative of Syrian rebels linked by Turkiye to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party in northern Syria.

Haberturk does not specify which topic Erdogan's talks with Putin will focus on.

Turkiye and Russia

Turkiye is one of the few European countries that, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, did not distance itself from the Kremlin but, on the contrary, seeks to develop relations with it.

Turkiye became the first NATO country to invite the President of Russia to visit it after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Turkiye does not support EU sanctions against Russia. According to Bloomberg, only in March of this year did Ankara begin to try to comply with the sanctions due to its interest in military cooperation with the US.

Also, Turkiye does not provide Ukraine with lethal weapons.

At the Peace Summit in Switzerland, which took place recently, a representative of Turkiye regretted that Russia was not invited to the event.