Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Turkish Global Relations Forum (GRF) held an expert meeting titled “New directions in Russian-Turkish strategic partnership” on April 26, 2013.
Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Turkish Global Relations Forum (GRF) held an expert meeting titled “New directions in Russian-Turkish strategic partnership” on April 26, 2013.
The event was opened by RIAC President Igor Ivanov, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies Vitaly Naumkin and GRF President Memduh Karakullukçu.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, the heads of the three organizations emphasized the key role played by Russia and Turkey in the processes currently taking place in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
During the meeting the experts discussed a wide range of issues of the Russian-Turkish cooperation. The following issues were on the agenda during the debates:
- Contemporary role of Russia and Turkey in global politics;
- Regional issues in the context of cooperation between Russia and Turkey: regional cooperation in the Greater Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus, development of a joint action program to meet the challenges in Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, the countries of the "Arab Spring", elaboration of a common vision of the Kurd problem ;
- Economic aspects of development of the Russian-Turkish relations: potential of bilateral trade, bilateral cooperation in strategic domains, energy security in relations between Russia and Turkey, and the existing potential for cooperation in the energy sector;
- Influence of non-state actors in the Russian-Turkish relations: links with the NGOs, cooperation in the field of higher education, social mobility of the population of the two countries, tourism, mixed marriages.
In the course of discussions participants repeatedly stressed that Russia and Turkey were capable of taking their bilateral relations to the whole new level of cooperation in many of the issues that had been discussed.
The meeting resulted in signing a cooperation agreement between RIACand the Institute of Oriental Studies on the one hand and the GRF on the other hand.
Expert meeting “New directions in Russian-Turkish strategic partnership”
