Peskov: a telephone conversation between Putin and Erdogan may take place in the near future

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s schedule does not yet include a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won the election, but one may take place in the near future. This was announced by the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov.

“No, it’s not on the schedule at the moment. But I repeat once again, telephone conversations with the President of Turkey are coordinated as quickly as possible. And of course, we can say with a high degree of certainty that such a conversation will take place in the near future,” Peskov said.

He added that in the future a personal meeting between the leaders of Russia and Turkey could take place, “but so far there are no estimates on the time.”

Peskov also said that Russia has not yet received invitations to Erdogan’s inauguration. “We don’t know what is envisaged in Turkey – an inauguration with the participation of foreign heads of state … There is no such practice, if we understand correctly,” the spokesman added.

On May 28, the second round of presidential elections took place in Turkey. According to the results of counting 99.85% of the votes, Erdogan received 52.16%, and his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroglu – 47.84%. On May 14, when the first round of the presidential elections took place, they won 49.5% and 44.8% of the vote, respectively. It was decided to organize a second round after none of the candidates on May 14 passed the mark of 50% of the votes required to win in the first round.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Erdogan with a victory in the elections, calling it natural. He pointed out that Moscow highly appreciates Erdogan’s personal contribution to strengthening friendly relations between the two countries and mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas. Putin also reaffirmed his readiness to continue dialogue with the re-elected president on “bilateral, regional and international agendas.”