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Erdogan anticipates Putin’s visit to Turkey for trip to restaurant, says top Turkish envoy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Istanbul soon

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Istanbul soon, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said about it at a meeting with the Russian leader in the Kremlin.

"Your dear friend Mr Erdogan has sent his greetings and best wishes to you and expects you to visit Istanbul soon. You agreed to go to a seafood restaurant," Cavusoglu said.

The Turkish side is represented at the meeting by Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan, and the Russian side is represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Special Presidential Representative for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentyev.

At the leaders’ meeting on the BRICS sidelines in the Republic of South Africa this past July it emerged that Erdogan had invited Putin to a restaurant in Turkey. But at that time the issue was about meat, not fish. During that meeting the Turkish leader confirmed this invitation to Putin, but the Russian leader joked in response that he will accept it only if Turkey opens its market for the deliveries of Russian meat.

The next day Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev told reporters that Russian producers started the deliveries of beef to the Turkish market.

The issue of Russian meat product deliveries to Turkey was long discussed by representatives for the two countries.