Russian President in Turkey: Putin and Erdogan meet in Ankara, aiming to boost cooperation

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Turkey for an official two-day visit. On the first day, Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a High-Level Cooperation Council meeting and on the second day, the leaders will meet with the Iranian president. Our correspondent Michal Bardavid has the details.

Turkey and Russia's alliance seems to be getting stronger by the day. Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit in Ankara on Tuesday, marked the 11th time he meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan face to face in the last 20 months.

Both countries' flags were raised high as Erdogan welcomed Putin to the capital with soldiers standing by. It was followed by fireworks – as the leaders watched the historical groundbreaking ceremony of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant by video conference.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN TURKISH PRESIDENT "When all of the units of the Akkuyu go online, as previously mentioned, it will meet 10 percent of Turkey's energy needs. So we are going to make our energy basket which depends heavily on petrol, natural gas and coal, healthier.”

MICHAL BARDAVID ANKARA, TURKEY Turkey and Russia are also cooperating in other fields. The two countries have signed an agreement for Ankara to purchase Russia's S-400 missile defense system which has been criticized by NATO and are also in the process the constructing the TurkStream pipeline which will transport Russian gas to Turkey.

Putin stated the missile defense system was a priority for Russia.

VLADIMIR PUTIN RUSSIAN PRESIDENT "In the military sphere, our priority is to fulfill a contract to supply Turkey with S-400 Triumph missile systems. We expect the upcoming meeting of a targeted government-level commission to thoroughly discuss future supplies of Russia's modern military production."

The two leaders also stressed that they plan to increase the current trade volume from over 22 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars. Erdogan added that Turkey looked forward to host more Russian tourists and reach a target of six million Russian tourists visiting Turkey next year.

On Wednesday, Erdogan and Putin will hold a trilateral meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss issues regarding the Syrian conflict, with a focus on extending the UN declared cease-fire, securing territorial integrity and preventing violations. Michal Bardavid, CGTN, Ankara.