Turkish, Russian Foreign Ministers Will Discuss Rapprochement - Ankara

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu will discuss the normalization of Russian-Turkish relations during Thursday's bilateral meeting, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — The Russian foreign minister is set to visit Turkey on December 1 to attend a High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council strategic planning group meeting in south Turkey's Alanya.

"During the talks, the current state of bilateral relations and the process of their normalization will be discussed, as well as a comprehensive exchange of opinion on relevant regional and international issues will take place," the ministry said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti.

The meeting will also serve to prepare the sides for the upcoming high-level council meeting due to be attended by the leaders of both countries early next year, according to the ministry. The fifth and last session was held in December 2014.

Russian-Turkish relations have since deteriorated following the Su-24 downing incident over Syria. Relations again thawed after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the incident. The next cooperation council meeting was scheduled during Erdogan's visit to Moscow in August, when the rapprochement process was formalized with leaders and ministers signing a range of cooperation documents.

Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Lavrov and Cavusoglu on Thursday would discuss the Turkish president's remarks on aiming to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule by the Turkish armed forces' military campaign in Syria.