On May 27, 2014, the Fourth Turkish-Russian Joint Strategic Planning Group Meeting (JSPG) which is a sub-organ of the Turkish-Russian High Level Cooperation Council (HLCC) was held in Moscow. The meeting which was held under the joint chairmanship of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, was also a preparatory meeting for the 5th HLCC Summit to be held in Turkey in the second half of the year.

During the meeting, the current bilateral relations of the two countries as well as new opportunities for cooperation were addressed and views were exchanged on regional and international developments which are on the agenda of both countries, especially Ukraine, including the situation of Crimean Tatar Turks, and Syria.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu emphasized that the bilateral relations have progressed significantly in recent years in various fields such as energy, transportation, tourism, culture. Underlining that they confirmed once again the mutual determination to deepen the bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that the two countries aim to increase bilateral trade volume up to 100 billion dollars.

Noting that during the Joint Strategic Planning Group meeting, developments in the Caucasus and the Black Sea basin and the initiatives of stability in Asia were discussed, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu stated that with his Russian counterpart, they also addressed the regional developments, especially in Ukraine and Crimea as well as the situation of Crimean Tatar Turks. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that Crimean Tatar Turks are the fundamental component of Crimea and drew attention to the importance attached by Turkey to Crimean Tatar Turks’ well-being.

“Turkey and Russia as the founding countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization share the perspective of transformation of the Black Sea basin into a peace basin through mutual understanding and economic cooperation and establishment of permanent peace via economic relations. As Turkey, we attach great importance to maintain permanent stability on the basis of respect to all agreements including Montreux Convention” said Foreign Minister Davutoğlu.

Emphasizing the importance of Caucasia for both Turkey and Russia, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu pointed out that the permanent dialogue channels between Turkey and Russia will contribute to finding solutions to the problems and frozen conflicts in the region