Russia Welcomes Turkish Role in Caucasus, Black Sea

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13/02/2009

Russi an President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday welcomed Turkey’s push for
a greater diplomatic role in the Caucasus and Black Sea area, saying
last year’s Georgia war showed US involvement was unnecessary.
Medvedev spoke during a visit by Turkish President Abudullah Gul, whose
country is now seeking closer ties with Moscow.
"Our countries naturally want to strengthen security in the Caucasus
region and to ensure proper security in the Black Sea. In this, we’re
fully in solidarity," Medvedev said at a televised meeting with Gul.
"We welcome several initiatives presented to us by our Turkish
colleagues, including the platform for security and cooperation in the
Caucasus," said Medvedev, referring to a diplomatic initiative by
Ankara that arose out of last year’s war in Georgia.
"We see prospects for implementing it," Medvedev said,
Medvedev struck a defiant note on the involvement of "outside powers"
in the Caucasus, however, in a clear reference to the US stand on
Moscow’s war over the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia in
mid-2007. "The August crisis last year showed the importance of
coordination by all countries of the region when such threats arise and
showed we can deal with such problems ourselves, without the
involvement of outside powers," Medvedev said.
Gul for his part said he hoped his current visit to Russia would
strengthen relations between the two countries.
"Russia and Turkey are neighboring countries, which are developing
their relations on the basis of mutual confidence. I hope this visit
will in turn give a new character to our relations," Gul said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress