Moscow ready to boost cooperation with Turkey

Spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, makes a statement during a weekly press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in Moscow, Russia on 3 December 2020. [RUSSIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY – Anadolu Agency]

Russia is ready to boost cooperation with Turkey in all fields, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday. Her comments marked the centenary of the Friendship and Fraternity Treaty signed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 16 March 1921.

“We reiterate our readiness for useful cooperation with Turkey in all fields,” explained Zakharova. “Russia is ready to widen economic, commercial and investment cooperation.”

The ministry issued a statement marking the anniversary of the treaty. “Turkey and the Russian Federation continue their dialogue and cooperation at the bilateral and regional levels,” it pointed out. “We believe that this understanding of cooperation [stipulated in the treaty] will continue in a way that will contribute to regional peace, stability and prosperity besides our bilateral relations.”

Neither the Republic of Turkey nor the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had been established when the “Treaty of Moscow” was signed in 1921. The official and internationally-recognised government in Turkey was still the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmed VI.

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