Amanda Paul from Today’s Zaman touched upon Russian-Turkish relations. Find the article below.
Russian-Turkish relations have historically been turbulent. However, today relations have taken on a more pragmatic tone. During the Erdoğan-Putin era, relations have deepened. At one point, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, even claimed he and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone almost every day.
In 2010 a high level council was created which not only aims to expand economic ties, it also has social and cultural dimensions which aim to remove historical mistrust between Turks and Russians.
This deepening of ties was underlined during Putin’s recent visit to Turkey on Dec. 5. In a press conference, Putin described Turkey as an important and reliable strategic partner, stating that over the last few years the two countries had been able to elevate the quality of their relations to a very high level, and plan to go much further and deeper.
This positive statement followed a period of disagreement between Moscow and Ankara. This year Turkish-Russian relations have been rocked due to the Syrian crisis. Russia, alongside China, vetoed UN Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring the Syrian regime. The Russians believe this conflict can only be settled between the opposition and the regime directly, without foreign intervention. Russia is accused of viewing the Syrian crisis through the prism of maintaining and promoting its own interests in the country.
In October, Turkey intercepted and forced a Syrian airliner flying from Moscow carrying 35 passengers, including Russian citizens, to land. Erdoğan claimed Russian arms were onboard, something which was vehemently denied by Moscow, which claimed the cargo was spare parts. Yet Putin postponing his trip to Ankara was quickly linked to this incident, which resulted in speculation over a freezing of ties. More recently, Russia was peeved over Turkey’s request to NATO to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Syria, while Turkey was far from happy about a recent arms deal that Russia made with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki worth a whopping $4.2 billion, one of the biggest deals that Moscow has signed in recent years. The arms package is said to include anti-aircraft missiles and other military technology that could obstruct Turkey’s attacks against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) if they were deployed in northern Iraq.
Yet, while there have been tough words exchanged, in the end it seems Putin and Erdoğan have agreed to disagree on Syria or, as President Putin so gracefully put it, “We share the same goal but differ on how to get there.”
The Dec. 5 visit has been cited as one of the most fruitful, building on Erdoğan’s trip to Moscow during the summer, with economic cooperation and trade ties dominating the discussions. Economic interdependence continues to increase. In 2008, Russia became Turkey’s top trading partner, replacing Germany. The two leaders signed 11 new sectoral agreements, setting themselves quite ambitious goals. While in 2005 trade was some $4 billion, this year bilateral trade is at some $35 billion, although $24 billion of this comes from Russian energy exports. The aim is to reach a volume of $100 billion in the not too distant future.
While there is presently a trade disparity in favor of Russia due to gas exports, there seems to be considerable room for Turkey to begin to balance this out through expansion in other areas such as construction, tourism (some 3.5 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2012) and the textile sector. In 2013 Russia’s Rosatom will begin to construct Turkey’s first nuclear power station at Akkuyu, while Moscow will also bid for a second station at Sinop on the Black Sea.
Geostrategic “prangs” in their shared neighborhood still have the ability to rock ties but are unlikely to capsize the relationship. For now it is Syria. Previously there was the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, which resulted in Turkey having to procrastinate on allowing the US Navy passage through the Bosporus into the Black Sea. This relationship is built on pragmatic economic interests which seem set to deepen further, including further afield, particular in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, which could reap benefits for both. This is definitely a relationship that the West should be watching closely.
