Nazarbayev holds talks with Erdogan

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday received Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev at his office in Ankara. Following the bilateral talks, Erdogan and Nazarbayev attended the Turkey-Kazakhstan high level strategic cooperation meeting, during which the joint economic plan “New Strategy” for 2012-2015, as well as two other cooperation agreements was signed between Turkey and Kazakhstan, and Nazarbayev presented the state medal of Kazakhstan to Erdogan. Appearing at a joint conference following the meeting, the two leaders expressed their happiness about the 20th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Kazakhstan. For his part, Nazarbayev said that there was no unsolved political or economic problem between the two countries and that they have built a great statute of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Kazakhstan as an indication of their respect for the Turkish nation. Recalling that Turkey was the first country to recognize Kazakhstan's independence 20 years ago, Erdogan said that Turkey shared common language and culture with Kazakhstan, which has succeeded in remaining stable. In response to a question about a Syrian passenger plane en route from Moscow which was intercepted by F16 jets as it entered Turkish airspace and escorted to the capital's Esenboğa Airport on Wednesday, Erdogan said that the plane was carrying Russian-made munitions destined for Syria's defense ministry, and thus it was forced to land because a civilian plane cannot carry materials used in the defense industry. Erdogan added that passengers were held at the airport for nine hours and the plane resumed its journey when the investigation was finished. "This was munitions from the Russian equivalent of our Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation being sent to the Syrian Defence Ministry," Erdoğan told reporters. Declining to give the source of the intelligence obtained by Turkey about the presence of non-civilian cargo on the plane, Erdogan said a report consisting of details on the seized material and the intended recipient of the cargo was being prepared by officials. Touching on the claims that the postponement of a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin's scheduled for October 14-15 was somehow related to the issue, Erdogan ruled out the allegations, saying that during a telephone conversation earlier this week the two leaders jointly decided to postpone the visit.