Whom does Turkey support and what risks does Turkey face in a difficult geopolitical situation

Who Turkey supports and what risks Turkey faces in a complex geopolitical situation.  News

Today

 

Current agenda of Turkish media

Let me remind you that from the very beginning, ever since the recognition of the so-called LNR and DNR, the President of Turkey condemned the actions of the Russian President.

Who does the President of Turkey support? Until the last day, experts believed that both Kiev and Moscow are important for Ankara. Source

Turkey has already offered several times to become an intermediary in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. 

Turkey abstained in the vote to suspend Russia's membership in the Council of Europe. Turkey's foreign minister commented: "We should not agree with the decision to stop the dialogue. Does the Council of Europe benefit from breaking off ties with Russia? No. That is why we abstained from voting. Because it means closing the dialogue". Source

But the rhetoric of the Turkish authorities changed on February 27. The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the Russian special operation in Ukraine was no longer a special operation and Turkey was going to act in accordance with the Montreux Convention. Source

The front page of today's Turkish newspaper Karar is "Come Home, Vladimir."

Source: Voice of Turkey Telegram Channel https://t.me/voice_of_turkey

The Turkish president's approval rating rose to 41% on the back of his policies. In December, the rating was 38.6%. Many believe that in this situation, the head of state has finally stopped caring only about his own ambitions and interests, and has put the interests of the country at the forefront. Source

https://t.me/turkeyabout

Turkey sent several trucks with humanitarian aid to Ukraine from the Turkish Red Crescent. Source

 

Turkish cell phone company Turkcell has made all calls and texts from Turkey to Ukraine free of charge.

 

Turkey's foreign minister gave an answer to the question whether the sanctions against Russia will affect Turkey:

Turkish Airlines has canceled all flights to Ukraine and also stopped flights to Sochi, Rostov and Minsk until at least March 2. In addition, flights to Moldova have been cancelled. Source

Flights to and from Turkey from Russia are more or less stable, although with long delays and extended flight times. But people are already reporting that they cannot buy tickets, for example, to Antalya for the next dates - all aggregators give an error when trying to pay.

Flights to Istanbul by Ural Airlines from Zhukovsky Airport near Moscow have been cancelled on March 1,4,8, 11, 15, 18, 22, and 25.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia has prepared recommendations for tourists, and also summarized information from various airlines (read in the source):

The Federation of Hoteliers of Turkey assumes that the loss of tourism this season could reach about 7 million tourists, in foreign currency it is about $ 6 billion. Source

The Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey is more optimistic - he believes that all necessary measures have been taken and the current events will not adversely affect the Turkish tourism industry. The country anyway expects visitors from 125 countries. Source. But experts believe that no country will be able to compensate the flow of tourists from Russia and Ukraine.

According to some sources in the tourism industry, due to sanctions against Russia, many Russian tour operators may soon stop working and go on standby. Source

Ireland detained one of its aircraft, leased by the Russian airline Pobeda, right at Istanbul airport. Passengers were sent to their destination on another flight. Source

About the risks for Turkey

In addition to tourism, Turkey is also concerned about other issues - for example, the supply of agricultural products from Russia. For example, in 2021, 70% of wheat imports were from Russia and about 15% were from Ukraine.

It is expected that bread prices in Turkey may rise. Source

In addition, the trade, manufacturing and energy sectors are also at risk. Source

About the prices

In order to protect citizens from fake discounts, as of March 1, the price tags for discounted goods in Turkish stores must show the double price - before the discount and after the discount. Source

Since February 26 there has been a sharp rise in fuel prices. Thus, the price of diesel rose by 1.51 lira and gasoline by 1.61 lira. The night before the price hike there were long lines at gas stations.

The exchange rate of the lira against the ruble today is about 8 rubles, and it is unstable now. Thus, the cost of a liter of gasoline in rubles - about 140 rubles.

About health

In the current situation, many are wondering where did kogonavirus. Of course, nowhere. For the past 24 hours in Turkey almost 50 thousand new cases have been identified, 206 people have died.