BEIJING, October 31. /TASS/. Moscow and Ankara are engaged in a constructive dialogue and can contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, Professor Selcuk Colakoglu, director of the Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies in Ankara, told TASS on the sidelines of the 10th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing.

"Turkey and Russia can play positive, constructive roles," the professor said in reply to a question about whether Moscow and Ankara could contribute to a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue, as well as to the reconstruction of Syria, Iraq and Libya. According to him, Russia and Turkey "can develop somehow [a] joint approach to stabilize those countries and [contribute to] building more efficient statehood in these countries."

Despite the sharp tensions between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO member Turkey has managed to maintain its partnership with Russia, Colakoglu added. "Ankara and Moscow have [a] very constructive dialogue. Usually, they have different policies and [are] supporting different groups in Syria, but [the] two countries are very successfully developing some certain mechanism to manage these differences without going [toward mutual] escalation," the academic pointed out.

Colakoglu listed the growing trade turnover between the countries, as well as Rosatom's construction of Turkey’s Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant as examples of successful cooperation between Russia and Turkey.

The 10th Xiangshan Security Forum was held in Beijing on October 29-31. In addition to academics and diplomats, it was attended by official military delegations from more than 90 countries, including Russia, the UK, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US. About one-third of the participants were at the level of defense ministers and military chiefs of staff. Approximately 1,800 people attended the forum. Participants exchanged views on global and regional security, with a focus on Asia, the Middle East and Europe. They also discussed issues related to artificial intelligence and nuclear risks.