Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
11-27-2015, 01:08 PM
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-just-dealt-huge-blow-164949490.html
Russia just dealt a huge blow to Turkey over its downing of a Russian warplane
Business Insider By Natasha Bertrand
1 hour ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that Russia would be suspending its visa-free travel agreement with Turkey, in light of Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian warplane earlier this week.
The suspension, which will make it harder for Russians to travel to Turkey, is likely to have a significant negative impact on Turkey's economy.
Russians account for a huge portion of Turkey's tourism industry. About 3.3 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014, the second-largest number of tourist arrivals after Germany and around 12% of total visitors, according to Reuters.
The move comes two days after Russia issued an official travel warning advising its citizens against visiting Turkey. Russian travel agencies have also announced that they will withdraw their business in Turkey until next year, according to a translation by Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
The move marks perhaps the culmination of Moscow's attempts to retaliate against Ankara. On Tuesday, Turkey ordered the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 fighter that had allegedly violated Turkish airspace for roughly 17 seconds.
Turkey has defended its decision to down the plane, contending that the plane was in Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly before it was shot down by Turkish F-16 jets. Turkey released audio of those warnings on Thursday. But Putin said the plane was destroyed by a Turkish missile while flying in Syrian airspace, roughly a mile from the Turkish border.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the act "criminal," announcing on Thursday that Russia would place wide-ranging sanctions on "foodstuffs, labor, and services from Turkish companies" in Russia.
The sanctions "could bite into more than $30 billion in trade ties between the two countries, as police here began seizing Turkish products and deporting Turkish businessmen," Andrew Roth, The Washington Post's Moscow correspondent, wrote on Thursday.
And on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to pull out of the anti-ISIS fight if Turkey downed another Russian jet.
"We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States," Putin said at a news conference on Thursday with French President Francois Hollande, according to The Guardian.
"But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen ... are absolutely unacceptable."
On Friday, Erdogan reiterated during a speech in Bayburt, in northeast Turkey, that he didn't want Turkey's relations with Russia to suffer.
But, he added: "We very sincerely recommend to Russia not to play with fire."
Lavrov accused Turkey on Friday of "playing a game where terrorists are allocated the role of secret allies," adding that Russia is ready to block the Turkish-Syrian border to "eradicate terrorism on Syrian soil."
It is unclear how such a blockage would be enforced, or whether it would involve stationing Russian ground troops at the border.
Russia has accused Turkey of facilitating the Islamic State's rise by purchasing oil stolen and produced by the jihadist group in Syria.
"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by the Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory," Putin said on Wednesday from the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah.
Western officials have long harbored suspicions about Turkey's links to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh. One official told The Guardian's Martin Chulov in July that a US-led raid on the compound housing ISIS' "chief financial officer" produced "undeniable" evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members, mainly by purchasing oil from them.
Still, those links have never been confirmed — a point Erdogan made as he shot back on Friday, challenging Russia to provide proof that Turkey had ever engaged in financial dealings with ISIS.
Erdogan added that Russia is supporting the "state terrorism" of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that has "killed 380,000 people," according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, began launching airstrikes in Syria in late September on behalf of the Syrian government. But the lifelines Russia has thrown to Assad have not been limited to military aid.
I am thinking that Turkey set an ambush up near that border. Not sure why but I believe it was an act conspired with obama to engage in. Turkey is a muslim nation and both obama and Turkey do not like Putin killing so damn many of the stinking muslim scum in Syria.--Tyr
Russia just dealt a huge blow to Turkey over its downing of a Russian warplane
Business Insider By Natasha Bertrand
1 hour ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that Russia would be suspending its visa-free travel agreement with Turkey, in light of Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian warplane earlier this week.
The suspension, which will make it harder for Russians to travel to Turkey, is likely to have a significant negative impact on Turkey's economy.
Russians account for a huge portion of Turkey's tourism industry. About 3.3 million Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2014, the second-largest number of tourist arrivals after Germany and around 12% of total visitors, according to Reuters.
The move comes two days after Russia issued an official travel warning advising its citizens against visiting Turkey. Russian travel agencies have also announced that they will withdraw their business in Turkey until next year, according to a translation by Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
The move marks perhaps the culmination of Moscow's attempts to retaliate against Ankara. On Tuesday, Turkey ordered the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 fighter that had allegedly violated Turkish airspace for roughly 17 seconds.
Turkey has defended its decision to down the plane, contending that the plane was in Turkish airspace and had been warned repeatedly before it was shot down by Turkish F-16 jets. Turkey released audio of those warnings on Thursday. But Putin said the plane was destroyed by a Turkish missile while flying in Syrian airspace, roughly a mile from the Turkish border.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the act "criminal," announcing on Thursday that Russia would place wide-ranging sanctions on "foodstuffs, labor, and services from Turkish companies" in Russia.
The sanctions "could bite into more than $30 billion in trade ties between the two countries, as police here began seizing Turkish products and deporting Turkish businessmen," Andrew Roth, The Washington Post's Moscow correspondent, wrote on Thursday.
And on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to pull out of the anti-ISIS fight if Turkey downed another Russian jet.
"We are ready to cooperate with the coalition which is led by the United States," Putin said at a news conference on Thursday with French President Francois Hollande, according to The Guardian.
"But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen ... are absolutely unacceptable."
On Friday, Erdogan reiterated during a speech in Bayburt, in northeast Turkey, that he didn't want Turkey's relations with Russia to suffer.
But, he added: "We very sincerely recommend to Russia not to play with fire."
Lavrov accused Turkey on Friday of "playing a game where terrorists are allocated the role of secret allies," adding that Russia is ready to block the Turkish-Syrian border to "eradicate terrorism on Syrian soil."
It is unclear how such a blockage would be enforced, or whether it would involve stationing Russian ground troops at the border.
Russia has accused Turkey of facilitating the Islamic State's rise by purchasing oil stolen and produced by the jihadist group in Syria.
"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by the Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory," Putin said on Wednesday from the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah.
Western officials have long harbored suspicions about Turkey's links to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh. One official told The Guardian's Martin Chulov in July that a US-led raid on the compound housing ISIS' "chief financial officer" produced "undeniable" evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members, mainly by purchasing oil from them.
Still, those links have never been confirmed — a point Erdogan made as he shot back on Friday, challenging Russia to provide proof that Turkey had ever engaged in financial dealings with ISIS.
Erdogan added that Russia is supporting the "state terrorism" of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that has "killed 380,000 people," according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, began launching airstrikes in Syria in late September on behalf of the Syrian government. But the lifelines Russia has thrown to Assad have not been limited to military aid.
I am thinking that Turkey set an ambush up near that border. Not sure why but I believe it was an act conspired with obama to engage in. Turkey is a muslim nation and both obama and Turkey do not like Putin killing so damn many of the stinking muslim scum in Syria.--Tyr