"We have repeatedly stated that our main issue in Syria is international terrorism, and have spoken about our readiness to cooperate with all countries to fight this evil… [Russian President] Vladimir Putin called for a creation of a broad anti-terrorism coalition during the UN General Assembly session. If Turkey were to cooperate with us on this issue we could only welcome it," Andrei Karlov said.
According to the envoy, Russian and Turkish deputy foreign ministers said they were looking to develop relations.
"The Russian Aerospace Forces operation in Syria is affecting the Russian and Turkish relations, we can see this now. But one would like to believe that with all the severity of the Syrian issue it would not have a long-term negative impact on our bilateral relations, especially on their economic component."
Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting several opposition factions and numerous militant groups, including the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
At the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, President Putin urged the international community to create a broad international anti-terrorism coalition with Islamic countries.
Russian jets commenced pinpoint airstrikes against the Islamic State targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Assad.
After the operation began, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said a Russian military aircraft violated the country’s airspace near Syria on October 3. The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed that on October 3 an Su-30 Flanker multirole fighter briefly entered Turkish airspace for a few seconds due to poor weather conditions. Russia apologized for the incident.
Following the event, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Turkey could reconsider purchasing Russian gas over the incident, as well as rethinking Moscow’s participation in construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in the Mersin Province in Turkey.
Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ali Riza Alaboyun later ruled out Turkey rejecting Russian gas purchases.
A US-led international coalition, which includes Turkey, has been conducting airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria since 2014 without an approval of either the UN Security Council or Damascus.
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