As part of the swift rapprochement between Turkey and Russia especially after the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey’s head of the armed forces and intelligence agency pay a visit to Russia on Tuesday to discuss cooperation and developments.
According to a statement by the Turkish military, the Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar is in Moscow to talk about military cooperation with his counterpart. The head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan accompanies Akar in this visit which is taking place in less than a months since Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey.
Turkey and Russia are mending fences after the former downed a Russian jet in November 2015 and apologized subsequently in June 2016.
When Putin was in İstanbul in October, Russia and Turkey signed a deal on a natural gas pipeline deal called Turkish Stream and took steps forward the normalization of bilateral relations.
Despite their opposing stance in Syria, Russia and Turkey have been considering cooperation in Operation Euphrates Shield, which Turkey has been conducting in northern Syria to fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Russian media had recently argued, based on Iranian news agency reports, that Russia notified the Turkish government about the coup attempt a day before.
Erdoğan had thanked Russia for its support for the government following the coup and later stated the need for Putin’s help in fight against terrorism.