Russia is keeping a close eye on what is going on in Turkey, where the presidential and parliamentary elections took place on Sunday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, TASS reports.
"Of course, we are watching the news that is coming from Turkey these days with great interest and attention. We respect and will respect the choice of the Turkish people. But in any case, we expect that our cooperation will continue, deepen and expand," the Kremlin spokesman said.
"We are aligned with the Republic of Turkey across a variety of fields in wide-ranging mutually beneficial cooperation - energy, tourism, trade, agriculture, road transport, air transport, and so on. This cooperation is truly mutually beneficial, which means that it meets the interests of both the Turkish people and the people of the Russian Federation," he said.
When asked to comment on the risks of a US-instigated "Turkish maidan" (the term ‘maidan’ was coined after Kiev’s central Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, to refer to anti-government riots - TASS), the Kremlin spokesman said, "Turkey is a developed democracy, a strong sovereign country, which, naturally, is capable of holding transparent and democratic elections and preventing any illegal actions." "We have no doubt about that," he stressed when asked how the Kremlin assessed such risks.
US President Joe Biden also expressed hope that "he who wins will win". At the same time, he noted that there are many other difficulties in that region.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also called Turkish President Erdogan and congratulated him and his alliance on receiving the majority of votes in the elections.
