At an event held at the Moscow Journalists House, Turkish journalists, columnists, Russian politicians, representatives of think tanks, business and civic society representatives and Russian journalists attended an event titled, "From a period of tension to deepening cooperation: Russian-Turkish relations." The event, the latest in a series of panels by the Sabah Columnists Club, focused on relations between the superpower and the regional power that saw perhaps its best run of momentum since the Cold War as Ankara has aligned itself more to Moscow in contrast to policies before the 2000s.

Turkish columnists speaking at the panel highlighted the need to further improve relations and discussed how the Gülenist Terror Group's (FETÖ) actions affected the ties. They also praised Moscow's support for Turkey in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt blamed on FETÖ.

The war in Turkey's neighbor Syria and the inevitable involvement of Russia – a close ally of Damascus - have put Turkish-Russian relations to a test. Though both sides sought to downplay the war's impact on their increasing cooperation on energy and commerce, the relations took a nosedive in 2015 when the Turkish military shot down a Russian jet hailing from Syria, on the grounds that it violated Turkish airspace. A war of words and downgraded economic ties followed the incident and it was only last year that Moscow and Ankara decided to put the hostilities behind and resume their relations as the Syrian crisis worsened.

Daily Sabah Editor-in-Chief Serdar Karagöz, who moderated the event, opened the event by commemorating Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Ankara who was killed in the capital by an off-duty police officer who later turned out to be linked to FETÖ. Karagöz said Turkish-Russian relations, the history of which dates back to the 15th century, saw significant strains during a period of improvement. He underlined that relations were rocked by the downing of a Russian jet by FETÖ-linked pilots and the assassination of the ambassador were back on track thanks to the good will and determination of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

İlnur Çevik, a columnist for Daily Sabah and a chief adviser to President Erdoğan, touched on Turkish-Russian cooperation in fighting Daesh in Syria. He said that despite the ups and downs, Turkish-Russian relations are on a firm footing and a new presidency in Washington would not affect the ties.

Associate Professor Fahrettin Altun, a Daily Sabah columnist, said relations were almost nonexistent during the Cold War era and they were resumed and developed after 2002. "The trade volume expanded and we developed bilateral relations particularly in energy and other strategic fields, on the basis of mutual interest. The downing of the plane put ground relations to a standstill but strong support by Putin after July 15, at a time when the West turned its back on Turkey, restored the strained ties. We witnessed a serious change in the paradigm in that period. Both sides value their relations and are eager to maintain it," he stated.

Mahmut Övür, another columnist, said Russia was well aware of "the great game being played in the Middle East." "The region is under the threat of a divide. Foreign powers seek to divide it into small states, so that they can control these countries easier. Russia noticed that Turkey was under siege on July 15. We may have significant differences when it comes to the PYD-YPG [Syrian Kurdish factions, the Democratic Union Party and the People's Protection Units linked to the PKK terrorist group], but Russia knows how much Turkey suffered from terrorism," he said, adding that Russia knew the difference between the political groups in Syria and "those taking up arms for the purpose of terrorism."

Professor Kerem Alkin, a Daily Sabah economy columnist, said Turkey and Russia were two countries "that can change the fate of the Eurasia region" and Turkey would "never forget Putin's support after the coup attempt." "We have to act together and pursue more steps for cooperation on energy. We see that the incidents that pitted the two countries against each other are not coincidental and the leaders of both countries are aware of this," he said.

The panel was attended by several Russian journalists including deputy editor-in-chief of Argumenti Nedeli magazine, Viktor Chulkovskaya, Yulia Nemchenko from TASS news agency, Ksenia Shakalova from Sputnik news agency, Kommersant columnist Kirill Krivosheev, Dr. Irina Svistunova from Russian Institute for Strategic Studies and Kostevoy Victoria Mikhailovna from Pushkin State Institution of Russian Language.

The event organized by the Sabah Columnists Club is the latest in a series of panels across the world organized by the Turkish newspaper, Sabah, that provides insight into the Turkish perspective on bilateral relations.

The columnists, accompanied by foreign lawmakers and experts, held panels at the British Parliament in November, in Washington and Brussels in December and most recently in Berlin last month.