And here our Turkish partners should not wear rose-tinted spectacles either." no one wants to see Turkey in Europe, I mean the Europeans. "Turkey can be orientated towards the West, we know that in the history of the Republic of Turkey, there have been periods of intense orientation towards the West, there have been periods of less intense orientation," Peskov said. The Kremlin said it intended to develop relations with Turkey "despite all the disagreements". Moscow, too, has been important to Ankara as a trading partner and major source of tourism revenue, and it is building Turkey's first nuclear power plant as well.Īhead of Turkey's tight presidential election in May, Moscow also allowed Ankara to defer up to $4 billion of its gas import bill for the first time this year, relieving pressure on dwindling currency reserves.
Flights and trade have continued, and Turkey is a rare customer for Russian gas. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday there were currently no plans for Putin to meet Erdogan to discuss renewing the deal, and it was not known when Putin might visit Turkey.Īnkara has been important to Moscow as Erdogan has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion. The Turkish presidency's communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Ī day after Ankara gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO, Washington said it would proceed with the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in consultation with Congress. Turkey had said in October 2021 that it wanted to buy the fighters and nearly 80 modernisation kits for its existing warplanes.īoth Turkish officials and the Biden administration have rejected any suggestion that Ankara's approval of Sweden's NATO accession was being linked to the F-16 sale in the months of talks to address Turkish opposition.Ī senior Turkish official told Reuters that Turkey would not harm its ties with Russia while improving relations with the West, adding that the West needed to support Turkey in its financial needs.Įrdogan's ties to Putin have loomed large in diplomacy surrounding the war in Ukraine, helping him broker a deal for the safe export of grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.īut that deal, which Moscow has threatened to quit due to what it says is the West's broken promise to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports, is due to expire on 17 July.
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