Alexander Mercouris: Turkish Foreign Minister Thanks Russia for its Support (ExtraTime)

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has publicly thanked Russia for its “unconditional support” to the legitimate Turkish government during the coup. 

TASS is reporting his comments as follows:

“Russia has expressed unconditional support to us. First of all, I’d like to thank Mr. Putin and other Russian officials.”

As it happens Putin’s and Lavrov’s public statements during the coup attempt were few and restrained, probably because both men were locked in prolonged and ultimately fruitless negotiations with US Secretary of State Kerry.  I suspect that what Cavusoglu is publicly thanking the Russians for is really their tip-off, which was vital to the defeat of the coup. 

This is probably as close to a formal acknowledgement of the tip-off from either the Turkish or the Russian governments as we are likely to see.