(5 Nov 1999) Russian/Nat
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have signed a statement
that both countries will stop providing shelter to "foreign terrorist groups".
Moscow is unhappy at Turkish support for the breakaway republic of Chechnya while Turkey wants Russia to stop providing assistance to its own Kurshish separatists.
The two leaders have still not reached an expected agreement to build a gas pipeline to Turkey across the Black Sea.
Russian and Turkish delegations led by the two countries' prime ministers, Vladimir Putin and Bulent Ecevit, met on Friday in Moscow to discuss bilateral trade issues and anti terrorist cooperation.
Turkey has expressed concern over the campaign Russian armed forces are waging in Chechnya, specifically over the flow of displaced people from the breakaway republic into Turkey.
The country is still trying to cope with hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the August earthquake.
Over the past two days, Turkey has accepted 124 refugees from Chechnya.
Russia has claimed that Turkish fighters were part of the Islamic forces that invaded the Russian region of Dagestan in August, and are fighting Russian troops in breakaway Chechnya.
Ecevit has said that Turkey does not support the rebels and any Turks fighting there have joined the rebels on their own.
At the end of the meeting the Russian and Turkish prime ministers signed a declaration on combating terrorism.
In remarks to reporters, the Russian prime minister attempted to justify the Russian military's bloody campaign in Chechnya.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Our actions on the territory of this republic (Chechnya) and on other territories in Russia which see elements of terrorists are not directed at resolving political or other problems, but are aimed exclusively at suppressing international terrorism."
SOUNDBITE: Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister
There have been high civilian casualties, however, and more than 200-thousand civilians have fled the territory altogether since Russia began airstrikes in early September.
The Turkish prime minister expressed his concern over the humanitarian crisis caused by the offensive.
SOUNDBITE (Turkish):
"We discussed the issue. Our view is that whatever is happening in the Northern Caucasus is Russia's internal affair. At the same time we expressed concern over the fact that during the operation in the Northern Caucasus there were civilian casualties and we expressed our desire to provide humanitarian assistance in Chechnya."
SUPERCAPTION: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
Ecevit's visit was supposed to result in several new agreements, including an accord on cooperation in the Black Sea, which both countries border.
But the main protocol on the Blue Stream gas project, a pipeline across the Black Sea which would supply Turkey with gas, is yet to be signed.
Putin told journalists that the mass media "should make no tragedy of the fact that something has not been signed today."
He believes that the two leaders "have not broken anything from the perspective of the previous accords on the Blue Stream project".
Ecevit is scheduled to return home on Saturday.
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