Erdogan on Talks With Putin: 'Syria is the Most Important Topic'

The Turkish leader said he considered Syria to be the topical issue of his upcoming talks with the Russian president.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope on Wednesday that discussion of Syrian reconciliation as part of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day would be productive.

"Of course, the most important [topic] of the talks [with Putin] is Syria… I hope that these talks would be productive," Erdogan told journalists before departing to Russia's city of Sochi where the talks would be held.

He added that Russia and Turkey had done a lot to stop the bloodshed in the war-torn country.

"We have productive cooperation. Our common goal is to reach the political settlement. It is important to establish truce," the Turkish president stressed.

In April, both parties confirmed that the Syrian crisis would be on the agenda of the talks. Apart from that, the leaders are expected to discuss military technical cooperation, namely the delivery of the Russian S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey under the negotiations started in 2016, according to Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.

The two leaders are also set to discuss key regional and international issues, including the joint fight against terrorism, according to a statement by the Kremlin.