‘Erdogan Is Balancing On Blade’

Turkey risks falling under US sanctions.

The economic policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently significantly affected both the Turkish lira and the country's internal economic ties. Therefore, issues of earning are extremely important for the state.

Hence the desire to earn on anything. And in this regard, Erdogan is literally trying to balance on a knife edge. This opinion was voiced to FREEDOM by the executive director of the Ukrainian Economic Discussion Club Oleh Pendzin.

“On the one hand, Erdogan understands that secondary sanctions from the West will put an end to many areas of his country's activities. On the other hand, this is good income (cooperation with Russia — edit.),” the economist noted.

He recalled that Erdogan tried to preserve the “grain corridor” in the Black Sea until the very end and even raised the issue of its renewal, despite the fact that Ukraine made it clear that it no longer needed it in this situation.

“We have found a fairly safe sea traffic that we use. Why did Erdogan raise the issue of the “grain corridor”? Because 25% of the cost of Ukrainian grain that went through the “grain corridor” remained in Turkey. It was becoming a very large grain hub. Therefore, the policy of the Russians, who then withdrew from the grain agreement, hit the pockets of Turkish companies and Turkey in particular very hard,” Pendzin explained.

That is why the Turks are very actively looking for any way to somehow earn money. And there is nothing surprising in this situation, the economist believes.

“There is a desire to earn money. Moreover, it is balancing on a blade, because if suddenly the threats and warnings of the United States are translated into concrete actions, Turkey will lose much more. Therefore, I think the Turks will be extremely careful so that these “finger-wagging” by the Americans do not turn into something more serious,” the expert summed up.

Pendzin also drew attention to the fact that Turkey has a very clear position on how they are going to work with the Russians, while supporting Ukraine.

“Formally, yes, they do support Ukraine. Let's remember the Bayraktars that we had in 2022 and helped us a lot. That is, this is an ideal way to sit on two chairs and be handshakeable with both sides, try to get economic preferences. But, I repeat, the main thing in this situation for Erdogan is not to get into trouble himself, not to stumble, because the Americans will not tolerate this anymore, and we heard a fairly clear position from Washington,” the economist noted.

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