Ankara and Moscow will preserve their strategic ties in the future and likely cooperate toward new projects, the leader of Turkey's Innovation Party, Ozturk Yilmaz, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2023) Ankara and Moscow will preserve their strategic ties in the future and likely cooperate toward new projects, the leader of Turkey's Innovation Party, Ozturk Yilmaz, told Sputnik.
"My personal belief is that we need Russia and Russia needs Turkey. We are strategic partners in many fields regardless what is happening in our domestic affairs. Two countries are in need of each other. We must work together," Yilmaz said.
The Turkish public believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Erdogan during the election campaign and through his free gas transfer initiative in Turkey, the opposition politician said.
"Will there be new joint projects? Yes, they will be. New projects will be in our interest. Our mutual interest requires to work together, to create new areas of investments for us," he added.
On Sunday, Turkey's Supreme Election Council said that Erdogan secured victory over Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the second round of the presidential election, winning 52.14% of the vote.
Following the announcement of the election results, Putin congratulated Erdogan on his reelection, saying that his victory was "a clear evidence of the Turkish people's support for your efforts to strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy." On Monday, the Russian leader held a phone call with Erdogan to once again congratulate him on the victory.
The Innovation Party is a Turkish opposition centrist party founded by Yilmaz in 2020 after he was expelled from Kilicdaroglu's Republican People's Party over internal conflicts.
