(VOVworld) – On June 27 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent an apology to Russian officials 6 months after the Turkish army shot down a Russian plane near the Turkey-Syria border. The decision is believed to stem from the pressure of economic sanctions, a change in Turkey’s diplomatic policy, and terrorist threats. It was also quite surprising because Ankara had repeatedly refused to apologize at Moscow’s request.
In a letter sent to President Vladimir Putin, President Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family and sends them condolences". Turkey also said Alparslan Celik, a suspect in the killing of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov after his plane was shot down, will be prosecuted.
President Putin earlier called Turkey’s downing of a Russian plane “a stab in the back administered by accomplices of terrorists”. Moscow repeatedly demanded an apology, which was refused by Turkish leaders. Ankara accused the plane of violating its airspace while Russia said the plane was operating within Syrian territory. Russia has imposed a number of sanctions on Turkey, including a ban on food exports from Turkey, halting travel visas for Turkish citizens, prohibiting Russian businesses from hiring Turkish workers, and restricting packaged tours to Turkey.
Turkey’s move to achieve goals in internal and external affairs
President Erdogan was facing political isolation before he decided to smooth over relations with Russia. He has put Turkey head-to-head with Europe in the migrant crisis. Turkey’s relations with Iraq, Syria, and Egypt have deteriorated and even become confrontational when Turkey attacked Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq. Ankara has been criticized for allowing IS gunmen to move freely across the Turkey-Syria border.
Turkey has not received backing from the US and NATO when confronting Russia. Washington said it would stay out of disputes between Russia and Turkey. NATO has tried to avoid further troubles in relations with Russia with whom relations have already been tense.
Russia’s sanctions and terrorist attacks targeting Turkey’s tourism have crippled Turkey’s economy. Aydin Sezer, a former trade official who represented Turkey in Moscow, said Russia’s sanctions are costing Turkey 12 billion USD a year, 4 times what was first projected. In January Turkey’s exports to Russia were just 108 million USD, one third the revenue in the same period last year. The European Bank for Development and Reconstruction said Turkey’s economic growth will shrink 0.3% as a result of Russia’s sanctions.
Since early this year Turkey has suffered a series of terrorist attacks, including a bloody bombing at Ataturk International Airport on June 28. A 2-decades long conflict between the Ankara government and the Kurds has shown signs of escalating. Prolonged internal political conflict and ongoing power struggles led to a change of government last month which widened rifts in Turkish society.
Positive response from Russia
Russia and Turkey had a close relationship and were economically interdependent before the tensions began. Turkey vied to be one of Russia’s major trade partners with two-way trade reaching 40 billion USD a year. Russia was Turkey’s biggest export market. The two countries expected two-way trade to reach 100 billion USD by 2020 and were promoting a number of strategic energy agreements, including a gas pipeline project called Turkish Stream.
2 days after President Erdogan sent his apology, President Putin ordered the government to start lifting sanctions on Turkey. He said travel restrictions on Turkish citizens will also be lifted. President Putin and President Erdogan agreed to resume cooperation and expressed their willingness to schedule a direct dialogue. Viktor Ozerov, head of Russia’s Council of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security, called the apology the first step toward the normalization of relations.