Lavrov says Russia-Turkey relations depend on cooperation on Syria

DVORIKI VILLAGE (Vladimir region), July 22. /TASS/. The development of relations between Russia and Turkey will depend on their cooperation on Syria and on whether Turkey will take steps against those who use this country’s territory to finance terrorists in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Much will depend on how we will cooperate on the settlement of the Syrian crisis," Lavrov said. "It happened so that when our aircraft was downed, we announced corresponding decisions to freeze contacts. During discussions of the Syrian crisis, we provided many facts that prove that Turkish territory is used for providing supplies to terrorists and sending militants to Syria. These facts remain on the table," he added.

"Now that we've restored our relations, it will be hard to ignore what the facts that we provided, and we hope that our Turkish partners will now start answering these questions, will take measures to stop their territory being used for supporting the fratricidal war in Syria," he concluded.

"We presented a lot of evidence that indicates that Turkey’s territory is widely used to finance terrorists and redeploy gunmen to Syria," the minister told the Territory of Meanings on the Klyazma national educational youth forum. "Now that we have resumed our relations, it will be difficult to ignore the fact that our Turkish partners will have to answer these questions now, and not only answer, but also take steps, as they used their territory to support this fratricidal war."

He noted that Turkey’s neighbors "realize that cooperation should be increasingly more based on trust and candor."

"All the more so because the situation in Syria has changed over the past few months, and conditions are being created for defeating terrorists and launching a genuine intra-Syrian dialogue," the minister said.