Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Mehmed Simsek, said Monday that the Turkish economy stands to lose US$9 billion due to such sanctions although he hopes to de-escalate the conflict with Russian Federation.
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Relations between Russia and Turkey have deteriorated sharply since Turkish F16s brought down a Russian fighter plane along the Syrian border.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart late Monday and reiterated Turkey’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity, Bilgic told reporters. “I would like to remind [everyone] that last month we hosted more than 20 of the world’s leading statesmen – leaders including Putin, thousands of foreign government members and journalists – in Antalya without any incident”.
Among the allegations Russian officials have leveled at Turkey is the claim that it contains a substantial terrorism threat.
Shoigu also said that Russia had now increased its intensity of airstrikes in Syria and carried out a massive aviation and missile attack using Tu-22 strategic bombers from the Russian territory. According to observers, Russia’s suspension of the project was a tactical and preemptive move so as not to give Turkey the opportunity to suspend the project itself in retaliation for Moscow’s punitive measures. Russian Federation also suspended tourism to Turkey.
“Russia should understand that this is border of Turkey and Syria”.
Here, the crucial question is whether Russian Federation will consider the punitive measures that it has already taken against Turkey in the economic, commercial and tourism sectors to be sufficient or if it will resort to military action as well.
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Turkey said it shot down the Russian plane after it violated its airspace despite repeated warnings. Turkey has been training Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting the militants. Ankara says the troops are there as part of an worldwide mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight against ISIL.
