Erdogan and Putin
© Alexei Nikolskiy/Russian Presidential press service/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday his talks with his visiting Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were constructive.

He said the meeting was of major significance for further relations between Russia and Turkey. "We had a substantial and, I would like to stress, constructive conversation on the entire spectrum of bilateral ties, and on the international agenda," Putin told a news conference after the talks.

Transformations in Syria

Only democratic means will make it possible to carry out transformations in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We believe that democratic transformations can be achieved only by democratic means. This is our position of principle," Putin said.

Putin added that Russia and Turkey had not always seen eye to eye on the Syrian settlement. He added that during the talks the sides had decided to have a separate discussion of the issue with the foreign ministers and security service representatives.

"We have exchanged information and we are going to search for a solution," the Russian leader said.

As for coordination of the two states' views and approaches to the Syrian settlement, the Russian president expressed the hope that it would be possible at least because Russia and Turkey had a common goal to settle the Syrian crisis.

"We are going to use this common approach as the basis for searching for a mutually acceptable common solution," the Russian head of state concluded.

Turkish Stream project

Implementation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project in terms of gas supplies to Turkey has no doubts and it may start shortly, Russian President also said on Tuesday.

"We viewed the Turkish Stream from the very beginning as an opportunity of broadening our cooperation in the gas sphere with Turkey and with Europe and not as an alternative to the South [Stream project - TASS]. A segment of the Turkish stream was stipulated exclusively for domestic consumers in Turkey in view of rising demand and growing economy of the Republic of Turkey. This segment shall not be subject to any doubt and its implementation may start in the nearest future," Putin said.

Resumption of charter service with Turkey

Resumption of charter service with Turkey is a matter of the near future as Ankara has given security guarantees for Russian tourists, Vladimir Putin said after talks with his Turkish counterpart.

He said the restoration of Russia's tourist flow to the pre-crisis level is a matter of time. Thus, he reminded, the ban on sales of travel packages to that country was lifted already in late June. "The most important thing is to have guarantees of that maximum security of Russian tourists from the Turkish side and we have received such guarantees from our partners," Putin said.

"In this context, we looked at possible resumption of charter air service, which is actually a matter of the near future," the Russian leader stressed.