Russian Expert Avatkov: Putin’s Ice Cream For Erdogan, A Metaphor Of Russia-Turkey Relations

Source:MEMRI Date:14Sep2019

A must read article:  What Putin thinks of Erdogan and his demands for deepening cooperation

According to Avatkov, Erdogan’s visit best embodied the oriental metaphor for Russian-Turkish relations. “Against the backdrop of the situation in Northern Syria and the risk of interstate confrontation, Erdogan, as a ‘genuine oriental man’, was quite emotional. Thus, upon his arrival at MAKS [the International Aviation and Space Salon], Vladimir Putin fed him with Russian ice cream in order to call him down and talked about the possibilities for expanding cooperation and showed, in every possible way, that Moscow, unlike Washington, is ready to do a lot, but … it desires reciprocity,” Avatkov wrote.

Avatkov concluded that Russia is prepared to go further in deepening relations with Turkey, despite its “accumulated discontent” with Ankara. “The time for big changes is coming, for now – there are too many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, however, this is the road that has to be walked through and risks cannot be avoided,” Avatkov asserted.