Warming Relations in Person, Putin and Erdogan Revive Pipeline Deal

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline is intended to replace a planned pipeline through Bulgaria that the European Union blocked at the outset of the Ukraine crisis. Some European governments and the United States also oppose the Turkish Stream project.

The revived agreement to build the pipeline also includes a common geopolitical sweetener from Russia: a reduction in the price that Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant, would charge for natural gas sold on Turkey's domestic market.

...

Mr. Erdogan told reporters at a joint news conference on Monday that the two presidents had discussed Turkey's military operations in Syria and possible cooperation to clear Islamic State fighters from the border.

"Regarding Aleppo, we discussed strategies that could be applied on humanitarian aid, so that the inhabitants who are in a dire situation there can quickly attain peace and calm," Mr. Erdogan said.

Mr. Putin said that "both Russia and Turkey stand for the earliest cessation of bloodshed in Syria," and added that "the switch to a political settlement must happen as soon as possible."

...

Despite their newly cordial relations, both Turkey and Russia continue to back opposite sides in the civil war. Russia has used its air force to buttress the rule of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Turkey has backed the rebels, within certain limits; it does not want to see Kurdish power expand across Syria's fragmented north.