Alwaght- Although Putin-Erdogan meeting last week in St. Petersburg can be considered as marking the end of the 7-month diplomatic freeze between Ankara and Moscow, the sticking points that affect the ties of Russians with the Turks are not small in number. This issue can be noticed from the makeup of the Turkish diplomatic delegation in St. Petersburg. One of the key outcomes of the discussions between the two sides was reactivation of the economic relations rather than agreeing on the political and security cases.

Lifting the Russian sanctions on Turkey, pushing ahead the Russian gas transfer project through Turkey to Europe, building the Turkish nuclear power plant by Russia, and reinstating the visa-free deal and so lifting the ban on travel of Russian tourists to Turkey are the major economic results of the discussions between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But using general and ambiguous terms and sentences on the security issues in the press conference indicates that differences on the discussed issues remain standing between the two sides. The divisive factors are as follows:

Syria terrorist crisis

Without doubt one of the deepest divides between Ankara and Moscow is about the Syrian conflict and the government of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Following eruption of conflict in Syria, Turkey turned into one of the staunchest opponents of the Syrian president though it had a record of good relations with the neighboring Syria. Removal of President Assad is a demand of Turkey frequently expressed over the course of past five years by the Turkish president. But Russia has been in stark contrast to Turkey in term of stances on Syria. It stood beside Iran, Damascus' most important regional ally that fully supports the Syrian government in its fight against the terrorist groups. Although following recent meeting between the presidents of two countries some Turkish officials talked about forming a joint commission to address� the Syrian crisis, as long as Turkey's Erdogan insists on his demand for ouster of the Syrian president no possibility can be expected that paves the way for Turkish-Russian cooperation on Syria. Some analysts have suggested that Erdogan�s welcoming of Bashar al-Assad�s message that condemned the military coup in Turkey is a kind of a show of flexibility in Turkey's stances on Syria, but in practice the pressures from the West and also Erdogan�s regional allies including Saudi Arabia and Qatar have made it very complicated for Turkey to make independent decisions on the Syrian crisis.

Armenia dispute

Among the regional differences between Turkey and Russia, the dispute of Armenia, located in eastern side of Turkey, is one of the most significant stumbling blocks. Historically, Turkey and Armenia have acted in opposition to each other. The war of 1920 between them still overshadows the two sides' foreign policy. The massacring of the Armenians is one of the cases that always fanned tensions between Yerevan and Ankara. During the past two decades, in all of the Karabakh tensions and clashes Turkey has had the back of Armenia's rival Azerbaijan. On the other side, Russia recognizes Armenia as its key ally in Caucasus region and it never withheld its supports from the Armenians. Russia guarantees security of Armenia by two military bases, including an air base, next to the Turkish borders, something never desired by Ankara.

Kurds

The Kurdish issue along with the Syrian crisis is another sticking point of Turkey with Russia� and even with the West. Russia with the US support the Syrian Kurds of Syrian Democratic Forces in their battle against ISIS and other terrorist groups active in Syria. Turkey sees this backing as in conflict with its national interests. Ankara argues that Syrian Democratic Forces are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey, against which Turkish government is fighting at the present time. The government of Erdogan is currently worried about Syrian Kurds gaining power and establishing all-Kurdish cantons near its borders. In fact, the cantons can potentially turn into cross-border bases for PKK as top enemy of Ankara. The Russian support for the Kurds is not limited to Syrian Kurds as Putin holds close relations with the Kurdish political parties of Turkey including People's Democratic Party, one of the leading parties rivaling the ruling Justice and Development Party.

NATO

Post-coup events made the Turkish-Western ties chilled but Turkey is still a member of NATO and it is home to some of important NATO military bases in the coasts of Mediterranean Sea. Some of NATO equipment including Patriot missile defense system have been deployed to Turkey's territory in past few years, aiming at creating a deterrent power in the face of Russia. This move by NATO came when tensions between West and Moscow escalated over Ukraine. Since escalation of tensions in Ukraine West and Russia saw even further tensions in their relations. In a general view, Turkey does not want to fall out of NATO's collective approach in dealing with Russia. Turkey's NATO membership is one of the key cases that never allows Moscow-Ankara ties develop to strategic levels.

Rivalry in Central Asia and Black Sea

Russia sees the Central Asian Turkic republics as its backyard. On the other side, Turkey sees the racial and lingual bonds as the major drive for its efforts to expand influence in Central Asia region. This is also observable in the regions close to the Black Sea. Erdogan has always criticized Russia for its behavior with the Turkic language Crimean Tatars. In fact, both Russia and Turkey consider Black Sea and Central Asia as part of their traditional areas of influence and they never hid their rivalry in these two regions. Following the Turkish-Russian diplomatic freeze a majority of the republics of the former Soviet Union including Azerbaijan have stood neutral and called for de-escalation between Moscow and Ankara, something showing equal influence of both Turkey and Russia in Central Asia.

In the light of the foregoing factors, the Russian-Turkish diplomatic rapprochement after diplomatic crisis can lead to a period of bilateral economic boom, but the five mentioned factors certainly would remain as most important security and political sticking points between the two sides.

By Alwaght