Turkish Presidential Advisor says Ankara has 'perfect' relationship with Moscow

Russia and Turkey have flawless relations, which continue to strengthen and improve, Ismail Safi, member of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policies Council, told a conference dedicated to bilateral ties between the two countries on Thursday.

"We have previously fought the problems over tomatoes and eggplants, but now, two days ago, we together celebrated the completion of construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline. The implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project is underway, and so is the contract on the purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries. The implementation of all these projects is crucial not just in economic terms but also in terms of relations between our two peoples. Now they are perfect, and continue to intensify and improve," he emphasized.

Participants of the conference, which is set to take place in Ankara on November 22-23, will address the prospects of bilateral ties between both countries.

In May 2017, Russian gas giant Gazprom started the construction of the offshore section of TurkStream near the Russian Black Sea coast. The project envisaged building the pipeline through the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and further on to the border with Greece. The length of the sea part of the pipe is seen at around 930 km, the overland part on the Turkish territory - 180 km.

The first line is destined for the Turkish market, while the second one will supply gas to the countries of south and southeast Europe. Capacity of each line reaches 15.75 bln cubic meters of gas per year. First gas supplies are expected by the end of 2019.