Whatever the points of disagreements and rapprochement between Ankara and Moscow, not only in terms of direct bilateral relations, but also the contradictions in the two countries' policies in many regions, it seems clear that both sides are avoiding further tensions that they know the West will exploit. This is what the Lebanese television channel Al-Mayadeen writes in an analysis on its website.
A few days ago, the US Treasury Department included the names of 13 Turkish companies in the list of boycotts and sanctions imposed on Russia because of the war in Ukraine. The Ministry of Finance accused the mentioned companies and their owners of covering Russia's needs for various equipment, the most important of which is used in shipbuilding, transport and the chemical industry. The American decision came three days after the surprise visit of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his surprise meeting with President Putin and the delivery of an important oral message by President Erdogan. This visit in turn came after embarrassing statements by President Putin in which he spoke of "Turkish military support for Ukraine" and said that it "has used Turkish drones against Russian targets", without ruling out "the possibility that these drones could be used to blow up Russian-Turkish gas pipelines", noting that "Ankara's attempts to obtain emergency loans from the West will harm the Turkish economy because the West will demand that Ankara respect the decisions imposed on Russia".
This is a topic that President Erdogan has repeatedly rejected, despite the pressure he is under from the American side, especially from President Biden, who convinced him of the need to agree to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. At a time when everyone knows that Ankara cannot comply with US and European sanctions in general, as it covers about 50% of Turkey's natural gas consumption, while Russian companies continue their work on the construction of the nuclear reactor in southern Turkey , with information that another contract is expected to be signed for the construction of a second nuclear reactor in the northern part of the Black Sea country, which Rosatom representatives were talking about, worth more than 25 billion dollars.
At a time when the Turkish and Russian sides know that they need each other, despite points of disagreement, not only for historical reasons, but also because Turkey is a member of NATO and an important country in all American and Western projects and plans as it joined the alliance in 1952 and then the Baghdad Pact. This made Turkey an important party in the general equations of the region, as was the case with the Greater Middle East project and later with the so-called "Arab Spring". Moscow, for its part, sees Turkey as the only outlet for direct and indirect financial transactions through Turkish banks, which have opened their doors wide to Russian capital fleeing European countries, estimated by some at around $200 billion. At a time when others estimate the volume of trade and financial transactions, both official and unofficial, at no less than $400 billion a year, as Russia imports all the necessary materials and products from Turkey, helping to ease the burden of the serious economic and financial crisis after the financial capitals refused Western and international lending to Turkey. Against the background of information that estimates the size of Turkey's debt from the purchase of Russian natural gas at about 60 billion dollars, which the Russian side does not require in an attempt to win the favor of President Erdogan.
All these facts and those that put Russian-Turkish relations on the map in various challenges continue to appear contradictory due to their complex interactions. After Ankara abandoned the use of $2.5 billion worth of Russian-bought S-400 missiles, sparking fresh tensions with Washington, the US Pentagon in turn agreed last week to sell Turkey 75 F-16 jets. with the first batch of them scheduled for 2028 - the year of the presidential elections in Turkey.
This decision by the US side coincided with Foreign Minister Haqqan Fidan's announcement of his country's desire to join the BRICS organization following his landmark visit to China, where he visited the Uyghur Muslim region and announced his country's support for unity and sovereignty of China. This has drawn criticism from Turkish nationalist circles and even from Western political circles, given that talks about China's sovereignty and territorial integrity also include the Taiwan issue. In all cases and whatever the points of disagreement and convergence between the two countries, not only in terms of direct bilateral relations, but also the contradiction in the policies of the two countries in many regions, the most important of which are Syria, Libya and the Caucasus, it seems clear that both sides are avoiding further tensions that they know the West will exploit. This explains the dispute between Russia and Turkey in Libya, and on the other hand the joint actions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger against France and America, also explains the freezing of files between the two countries in Syria.
Given Russia's interest in Turkey's current and potential role as a credible mediator in ending the Ukrainian crisis, with information indicating that Ankara is favored over Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in this matter, due to Turkey's strategic importance not only in its relations, but also because of its geographical position, as it controls the ports of entry, the Black Sea is very important for Russia, given the ongoing Western escalation of the Ukraine crisis with the possibility of a nuclear confrontation recently noted by President Putin.
This does not ignore the historical disputes between the Russian and Ottoman Turkish sides since 1550, as history speaks of no less than 15 fierce wars between the two countries, most of which were for control of the Black Sea due to religious and national conflicts between the two countries in different periods of history.
The talk in Turkish nationalist circles of the Turkish nation came from the Adriatic to the borders of China, and this was the slogan raised by the late President Turan Özal after the fall of the Soviet Union and the birth of the Muslim republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia to place the two countries in the face of other challenges. Because Ankara, together with President Erdogan, sees the Caucasus and Central Asia as a continuation of the Ottoman Turkish national dream, and Moscow sees them as the garden of its successor and does not want anyone to enter it without permission and prior agreement with it!