Turkey-Russia cooperative ties develop 'step by step'

The issue of Syria was part of talks and the two presidents discussed political solution in the war-torn country. Two leaders stressed that Turkey and Russia will cooperate on Syria crisis.

Erdogan said he informed Putin about Turkish army's ongoing offensive in Syria's Afrin against Kurdish militia.

In a sign of the importance of the partnership, Putin's visit to Turkey is his first trip abroad since he won a historic fourth presidential mandate in March.

The groundbreaking ceremony of Turkey's first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, was held earlier the day with the participation of Turkish and Russian presidents via video teleconference from capital Ankara.

During the video teleconference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "The successful implementation of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant will be a symbol of the dynamic development of Turkish-Russian partnership."

Ankara-Moscow relations were tested by a severe crisis for Turkey's downing a Russian jet on the Syrian-Turkish border in 2015. Strains have been eased as the two sides began a reconciliation process in 2016 following Turkey's apology.

The normalization process stood trial over the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrey Karlov in an armed attack December 2016.

But Putin called the assassination a "provocation" to undermine relations between Turkey and Russia as well as the efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Russia and Turkey prioritized cooperation in Syria amid the latter's strained relations between its Western allies, particularly with the U.S. over the issue of People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).