President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and discussed with him the Syrian crisis, the situation in Ukraine and bilateral relations.

Erdogan said during the call: "We aim to complete the road map and take concrete steps towards establishing a natural gas center in Turkey soon."

Noting that he witnessed the positive results of negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war in the grain corridor, prisoner exchange and safe zone initiatives around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Erdogan said calls for peace and negotiations should be supported by a ceasefire and a vision of a fair solution.

He stressed "the need to take concrete steps now to cleanse the Turkish border areas of terrorist organizations, especially Tal Rifaat and Manbij.

Last month, the two presidents discussed, by phone, grain supplies and a possible gas hub in Turkey.

The two presidents also spoke, according to the Kremlin, of an initiative to establish a base in Turkey for Russian natural gas exports.

Putin floated the idea in October as a way to reroute supplies from Russia's Nord Stream pipeline to Europe after it was damaged by bombings in September. Erdogan expressed his support for the matter.

Reuters quoted the Kremlin as saying, "The special importance of joint energy projects has been emphasized, mainly in the gas sector.