Turkey, Russia taking significant steps in Syria – Erdogan

Turkey and Russia are together taking significant steps in Syria, Turkish president said on Monday.

"Another significant step taken with Russia is to cooperate against terrorist acts in Syria," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting in Moscow with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.

This is the third meeting of the two leaders since the beginning of 2019.

Two leaders will discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments, the Turkish leader said.

Cooperation between Turkey, Russia

Cooperation between Turkey and Russia continues increasingly, Erdogan said on Monday.

“Our cooperation with Russia continues increasingly and becomes stronger [day by day],” Erdogan told reporters ahead of his departure from Istanbul for Moscow.

“Visa-free travel is of course a topic that is on our agenda,” he added.

Erdogan will attend the eighth High-Level Cooperation Council meeting between two countries. The meeting is being held annually since 2010.

Later, Erdogan and Putin will attend an opera titled Troy, based on the Greek epic, in the opening ceremony of cross-year of culture and tourism.

The opera will be performed by Turkish singers at Russia's Bolshoi Theatre.

The 2019 was announced a cross-year of Turkish-Russian culture and tourism in the two countries.

Earlier, Fahrettin Altun, the Director of Communications of the Turkish Presidency also gave details of Erdogan's visit to Moscow.

“President Erdogan will meet President Putin for the third time this year,” he tweeted.

“Our mutual commitment to working together and goodwill helps our bilateral relations and our cooperation on regional issues to develop in all areas from the economy to security.”

Another tweet said, “We (Turkey and Russia) do respect the territorial integrity of Syria and we act within the framework of counter-terrorism policy.”

“We invite countries which support terrorist organisations that threaten the territorial integrity of our country and Syria to give up this attitude and contribute to the process.”

“Our cooperation with Russia in the field of defence industry is discussed in a broad framework from mutual military product supply to joint production opportunities. The defence industry will be an important dimension of the relations between the two countries and will continue to develop.”

West Bank is 'absolutely' Palestinian territory

The West Bank is "absolutely" a territory of Palestinians, said Erdogan, lambasting Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for his remarks on annexing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected.

Turkish president also said every action of Netanyahu is against international law.

On Saturday, Netanyahu vowed to annex the occupied West Bank if he won the general election which is slated for April 9.

He said in an interview with Israeli television: "We will ensure that we are in charge on the ground. And we will impose sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria [West Bank]."

Roughly 650,000 Jewish settlers currently live on more than 100 settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

The Palestinians, for their part, want both these territories – along with the Gaza Strip – for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.