I want to reset Russia ties and restart cooperation, says President Erdoğan on eve of meeting with Putin

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an interview with Russia's TASS news agency published on Monday that he wanted to reset relations with Russia from a clean slate and restart cooperation in a range of sectors.

The President was speaking on the eve of a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg intended to end a period of high tension after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November. Russia imposed trade sanctions on Turkey and the number of Russian tourists visiting the country fell by 87 percent in the first half of 2016.

"This visit strikes me as a new milepost in our bilateral relations, starting again from a clean slate," Erdoğan told TASS.

"A new page will be opened in Russian-Turkish ties. This new page will include military, economic and cultural cooperation," he concluded.