Davutoglu and Lavroc attend meeting of Turkey-Russia joint strategic planning group

As part of a meeting of the Turkey-Russia Joint Strategic Planning Group at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Speaking at a joint press conference following the meeting, Davutoglu said that they have discussed developments in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Caucasus and that ensuring peace and stability in those regions was a common goal both for Turkey and Russia. In response to a question on the Syria issue, Davutoglu said that Turkey was trying to form a common ground for a solution to the Syrian crisis. Stating that the number of refugees in camps in Turkey has exceeded 200,000 and there are 100,000 others outside the camps, Davutoglu said that Syria also posed a security threat to Turkey, citing the Scud attacks by the Syrian regime near the Turkish border and prospects of chaos that could ensue if the Assad regime collapses. Davutoglu added that Turkey and Russia aimed to increase their trade volume to $100 billion and were determined to realize this goal using strong measures. For his part, Lavrov described the Friends of Syria group as a gathering of countries who are friends with just one segment of the Syrian opposition and said the group’s workings negatively affected efforts for a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Lavrov underlined that the priority should be on ensuring that both sides end violence without any precondition.