Putin and Erdogan meet with Syria high on the agenda, but little word of agreement

The summit in Putin’s official residence lasted for three hours—without the presence of aides or notetakers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on September 29, 2021. (Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on September 29, 2021. (Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP)

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to the Russian resort town of Sochi on Wednesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The summit in Putin’s official residence lasted for three hours—without the presence of aides or notetakers. That was a point which Erdogan highlighted last week, contrasting it with the refusal of US President Joe Biden to even meet with him, when they were both in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly.

Read More: Erdogan blasts US, praises Russia

Syria topped Erdogan’s agenda in two respects. First, he sought to press Putin to restore a cease-fire in Idlib Province which was concluded in March 2020, after a Russian airstrike killed 33 Turkish troops inside Syria.

Over the past few months, however, Syrian regime forces, backed by Russia, have renewed their offensive, and their attacks on the Turkish-backed groups have escalated, as The Wall Street Journal reported.

On Sunday, Russian airstrikes killed six rebel fighters and wounded over a dozen others, it said.

A second objective for Erdogan in his discussion with Putin was to press the Russian leader to move Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) out of Manbij and Tal Rifaat in northern Syria.

Read More: Erdogan will urge Putin to remove Kurdish fighters from Syrian border: Report

Following their meeting, however, there was no indication that Putin had acquiesced in either of Erdogan’s requests.

In opening comments, Erdogan stressed the importance of cordial ties between Ankara and Moscow to the situation in Syria.

“The steps we take together regarding Syria carry great importance. The peace there is dependent on Turkey-Russia ties,” Erdogan said.

However, Putin scarcely mentioned Syria in his own remarks, describing it as an area where Turkey and Russia had cooperated with reasonable success.

And neither president had substantial remarks after their meeting, although Erdogan described the talks as “productive,” while Putin called them “useful and informative.”

Second Russian Air Defense System

In an interview broadcast on Sunday with the US news program, “Face The Nation,” Erdogan stated that Turkey intended to buy a second set of Russia’s air defense missile system, the S-400.

Ankara first obtained the S-400 in 2019, and that obliged a reluctant Donald Trump, as US President, to impose sanctions on Turkey late last year, as required by the CAATSA law (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.)

Following the broadcast of Erdogan’s interview, a State Department spokesperson warned later on Sunday that “any significant new Russian arms purchases would risk triggering” new CAATSA sanctions, “separate from and in addition to those imposed in December 2020.”

Key US Congressmen, including Sen. Robert Menendez (D, New Jersey), the powerful Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a similar warning.

Nonetheless, in Sochi, despite the US warnings, Erdogan affirmed, “There is no path back in this sphere.”

“Erdogan’s announcement about his commitment to the S-400 air defense system is the best present he could have offered to Putin, since it will allow Russia to further undermine NATO by exploiting the spoiler role Ankara plays within the transatlantic alliance,” Dr. Aykan Erdemir, Senior Director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former member of the Turkish parliament,” told Kurdistan 24.

Did Putin Outmaneuver Erdogan?

“The secrecy surrounding” their summit meeting, “which was marked by the absence of any diplomats or notetakers, shows the increasingly interpersonal nature of bilateral relations” between Ankara and Moscow, Erdemir said.

“Erdogan’s harsh criticism of Biden and the United States in the run up to his meeting with Putin weakened his hand,” he added. “It is likely that Putin exploited this vulnerability to extract further concessions from Ankara.”

“If the Turkish markets offer any clues as to the expected impact of the meeting, the Turkish lira’s hitting an all-time low by approaching nine liras to the US dollar by the end of the day hints that Turkey will remain on a crash course with its NATO allies, as Ankara is pulled deeper into the Kremlin’s orbit,” Erdemir concluded.