MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will talk on the phone and meet in person at some point in the near future, the only question is when this will happen, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.
"No, right now it is not on the schedule yet, but a phone conversation with the Turkish president is being coordinated as quickly as possible," Peskov said, commenting on the possibility of a phone call.
"Of course, we can say with a high degree of certainty that such a conversation will take place in the near future," the Kremlin spokesman added. Focusing on in-person talks, he said "One way or another, at some point [the meeting] will definitely take place but so far there are no tentative timeframes."
Peskov was also asked about the possibility of Putin attending Erdogan's inauguration after the latter won the presidential election on Sunday. "We don’t know whether the inauguration in Turkey will allow for the participation of foreign heads of state. That is not how they do things over there, as we understand," he explained. "Let us wait and see, so far there has been no invitation," he summed up.
It was reported earlier that after winning the election, Erdogan plans to hold phone calls with certain world leaders, including with Putin.
Reelection of Erdogan
A runoff presidential election was held in Turkey on Sunday, May 28. Ahmet Yener, who heads Turkey’s highest election authority, the Supreme Election Council, said late on Sunday that with 99.43% of the ballots counted, Tayyip Erdogan got 52.14%, and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu - 47.86%.
President Vladimir Putin has given his congratulations to Recep Tayyip Erdogan on winning the presidential race. The Russian leader assured that Moscow highly appreciates Erdogan's personal role in strengthening friendly Russian-Turkish relations and confirmed his readiness to continue constructive dialogue on key issues of the bilateral, regional and international agenda.
Erdogan and Putin keep in regular contact.This year alone, according to the Kremlin, they have held six phone calls. The most recent face-to-face talks took place in October of last year on the sidelines of the Astana summits, and the presidents last spoke by video link on April 27 during the nuclear fuel delivery ceremony at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.