Turkey, Russia to talk Syria more regularly: Erdogan

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL

Turkey and Russia will meet more regularly to deal with the ongoing civil war in Syria, Turkey’s president said on Saturday.

“Perhaps every 15 days or once a month we will continue our gatherings,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a provincial meeting of the Justice and Development (AK) Party in Turkey’s western province of Balikesir.

“We have taken critical decisions to end the humanitarian drama in Syria,” Erdogan said, referring to his meeting this Wednesday in Sochi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.

During the meeting at the Russian Black Sea resort, the three presidents agreed to convene a congress of Syrian groups to advance a political solution for the war-torn nation.

“Hopefully soon we will see the positive effects of these decisions more clearly,” Erdogan added.

'Turkey won't allow others to dishonor our country'

Erdogan also commented on incidents at a recent NATO drill where both he and the founder of the Turkish Republic were depicted as “enemies” in materials for the exercise.

“We will not allow [anyone] to defame either my person, or our republic’s father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, or our military, or any other of our country's values,” Erdogan said.

Last week Turkey withdrew its soldiers from NATO's Trident Javelin exercise in Norway after a civilian Norwegian official depicted Erdogan as an "enemy collaborator".

A picture of Ataturk was also used in the "hostile leader list" during a computer-assisted exercise.