Turkey, Russia to coordinate air operations against terrorist targets in Syria

Turkey and Russia signed a memorandum to coordinate their air operations against terrorist targets in Syria, Russia Defence Ministry and Turkish military sources said late Thursday.

Military sources stated that the memorandum of understanding was signed in order to strengthen Turkish-Russian cooperation against terror in Syria, ensure the flight security of warplanes belonging to both Russian and Turkish air forces during aerial operations against militant positions, and to prevent undesired incidents.

Another aim of the memorandum of understanding is to determine mechanisms regarding the coordination and cooperation in counterterror operations.

Despite some tough time between Russia and Turkey last year because of the downed jet incident, their bilateral relations entered a new phase following an Erdoğan-Putin meeting in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9.


Putin has also told Erdoğan before that his country is ready to increase cooperation with Turkey against terrorism. The parties have had numerous phone calls lately, in which the both presidents discussed the humanitarian crisis in Syria and need for cooperation against terror.