Workshop on “Russian-Turkish Relations: Current Situation and Perspectives”

The 5th Joint Conference between RISI (Russian Institute of Strategic Research) and ORSAM (Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies) was held in St. Petersburg, Russia on March 25, 2013. The Parties, which already held four round-table conferences in Moscow, Ankara, Rostov and Antalya, discussed the relations between Turkey and Russia during the conference held in St. Petersburg. The subjects discussed in the conference can be listed as follows: the factors drawing Turkey and Russia closer to each other in early 21st century, the obstacles before the development of Turkish-Russian relations, cooperation developed between Turkey and Russia in the fields of economy and energy as well as the problems in those fields, Turkish-Russian cooperation and competition in Eurasia, Black Sea, Middle East.        

Another subject, brought forward by the Parties, was the influence of the developments in the Middle East, Syria in particular, on the relations between Turkey and Russia. Although the participants acknowledged that the Parties had different attitudes towards the Syria issue, they were on the same page that the Syria issue did not influence the Turkish-Russian relations. The scholars from both countries explain it by the importance attached by Turkey and Russia to one another.