Turkish authorities intend to sign a free trade agreement with Russia, the Turkish Minister of Economy, Nihat Zeybekci said. "Turkey will have a kind of free trade agreement with Russia", - Zeybekci announced . He also added that 16 Turkish companies have documents for exporting meat to Russia, reports RIA Novosti.
Earlier in January Russia's trade representative in Ankara Tofik Melikov announced that till August 2014 the supply of meat and meat products from Turkey to Russia increased six times. He reminded that Ankara did not join the sanctions against Russia and, therefore, the official bilateral contacts between the countries have become more frequent. Tofik Melikov also noted that there are a number of technical issues in trade between the two countries that might be solved but in general he assesses the situation positively.
It should be noted that in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that "Turkey does not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea to Russia". The Crimean Tatars have repeatedly appealed to the Turkish authorities to protect them. However, Turkey has quite friendly relations with Russia which is its key energy supplier. Of course, in the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, Turkey announced about the importance of preserving the integrity, political unity and sovereignty of Ukraine, but the Turkish authorities also refrained from the direct confrontation with Russia.
On 20 March the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan paid an official visit to Ukraine. Erdogan said Turkey will provide Ukraine a loan of $50 million. In addition, Turkey will give $10 million as humanitarian aid for the displaced Ukrainian people. Although Erdogan during his visit to Ukraine emphasized the importance of the territorial unity of Ukraine, the Turkish leader did not make any open allegations against Moscow that once again confirms the passive position of Turkey in the Ukrainian crisis.