Moscow Supports Turkey For Cyprus

Gul met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and requested that Russia, as a United Nations (UN) Security Council member, support the lifting of the international sanctions imposed on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Gul, talking about the meeting afterwards, conveyed that Lavrov said Russia supports the removal of TRNC sanctions because establishing trade relations and ending the economic isolation of TRNC is the right thing to do.

Gul added that Russian companies would not act as obstacles to ending TRNC’s isolation. Russian companies have investments totaling over US$40 billion in the Cypriot Greek side.

Gul, the first Turkish Foreign Minister to visit Moscow in eight years, said that he and Lavrov discussed the Georgian issue and that the both Turkey and Russia reached a consensus on the Adzharia issue.

Lavrov also thanked Gul for supporting Russian membership to OIC. The Nagarno Karabag issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia was also underlined during their talks.