Turkey-Russia Relations: What Happened?

• 06.29.2016, 11:58
•  Region,  World

Максим Шеметов/ТАСС

Apologies from Erdogan are due to the fact that Turkey is in a difficult foreign policy situation as it lost all its allies. This is the opinion of an expert on Turkey, political scientist Alexander Sotnichenko, who commented on Erdogan's apology over the downed Russian aircraft.

It should be noted that Ankara's relations with the European Union and the United States have got quite tense on the background of intensified migration crisis, the issue of human rights etc.

"Turkey is going through a deep isolation over the past few years, switching from its famous policy of "zero problems with neighbors" to the reality of "no neighbors without problems". It has been the loneliest moment in the history of the republic," an expert on international relations of the European Council Asli Aytindasbas said, speaking about the reasons due to which Erdogan decided to apologize to Putin.

However, it should be noted that Erdogan's this step is conditioned not only by political motives. This is also connected with economic issues, as now it is a holiday season, and in terms of economy, the tourism industry is very important for Turkey: it provides about 11% of GDP. However, as noted by the Turkish political scientist Togrul Ismail, by apologies, conflicts, of course, cannot be solved.

"They are solved by negotiations and agreements - as has happened in recent days between Turkey and Israel when during the negotiations they reached an agreement on compensation," Turkish expert said.

It should be noted that for the normalization of relations Kremlin demanded an apology, compensation and punishment of those responsible for the incident. The question of apology can already be considered closed. Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation on Wednesday with the initiative of the Russian side. This was announced by press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov. This means that Russia has accepted Erdogan's apology, and now Ankara has to fulfill the remaining conditions of Kremlin in order to normalize relations: to pay compensation and punish the culprits. Erdogan noted in his letter to Putin that the case of the killer of the Russian pilot is under investigation, but it should be noted that the investigation is conducted on quite another charge.

As for payment, the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim said about Turkey’s refusal to pay compensation for the downed Russian Su-24. "There was no talk on compensation, Turkey has only apologized," the head of the government said. And apologies from Turkey were brought in a very peculiar way. Turkish expression used in Erdogan’s letter "kusura bakmasınlar" expresses no remorse as much as wishing the other party to stop getting offended. It's like both the fulfillment of the requirements of official Moscow on the one hand, and also saving Erdogan’s image on another hand.