© AP Photo/ Oded Balilty
EUROPE
21:52 03.04.2016
Two Turkish naval ships entered the port of Ukraine’s Odessa on Sunday, the press service of Ukraine’s Navy reported.
The Turkish Navy sent its TCG Salihreis and TCG Bartin frigates to the port of the Ukrainian city of Odessa under the framework of military cooperation between the two countries.
"Today, on April 3, two military ships of the Turkish Republic's naval forces, TCG Salihreis and TCG Bartin, came to Odessa. The two-day visit of the Turkish ships in the Ukrainian port is happening in accordance with the plan of activities on the international cooperation of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2016," a statement published on the Facebook account of the Ukrainian Navy said.
As of late, both Turkey and Ukraine have been actively pursuing bilateral cooperation, especially in terms of their military.
Just last month, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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The US intelligence company Stratfor said the meeting between the two leaders was coming in "direct reference to Russia" with which both countries currently have very strained relations after the Turkish military shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria and the military conflict in Ukraine's Donbass.
Both Poroshenko and Erdogan condemned the reunification of Crimea with Russia and expressed their intent to "coordinate efforts to de-occupy Crimea," the National News Agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform) said.
"I and Mr. President [Erdogan] called for the joint efforts which will be focused on de-occupation of Crimea. To this end, we plan to unite efforts within the framework of international organizations as well as on the basis of new international formats," Poroshenko was quoted as saying.
The two countries also agreed to join their naval forces last year to strengthen regional security in the Black Sea.
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