Moscow-. Yuri Pleibson, director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Russia hopes to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkey after the general elections in that country.
The senior diplomat believes that Turkey is a great power and an influential regional player, and in recent years it has maintained an independent position on most issues to ensure its national interests first and foremost.
Plebson added that this principled approach contributes to the development of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation.
The director pointed out that Russian-Turkish cooperation has shown dynamism in recent years, with bilateral trade exceeding $62 billion in 2022, and this effective interaction prompts some Western countries to try to undermine it.
It seems that the destructive streak towards Russian-Turkish relations will continue, Pilibson said, but I am confident that together with Turkish partners we will be able to resist the subversive attempts of hostile forces.
The statements of the Director of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry came on the eve of the second round of the presidential elections in Turkey.
In the first round, Turkey’s incumbent leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan won 49.24 percent of the vote, while his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party won 44.88 percent.
The second round of the presidential elections, which will be held for the first time in Turkey’s history, is scheduled for Sunday, May 28. The candidate who achieves a simple majority in the ballot shall assume the presidency.
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