Russia to lift boycott on Turkey as tourist destination
By Fatma Babayeva
Russia began taking measures for the normalization of relations with Turkey after receiving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter on the SU-24 incident.
In a telephone call to his Turkish counterpart Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed lifting the restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, according to the press service of Kremlin, reported Ria Novosti.
The Russian president noted that he will instruct governmental authorities to enter into negotiations with the relevant Turkish agencies in order to restore mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in trade, economic and other spheres.
In this regards, it is desirable that the Turkish government will take extra steps to ensure the security of Russian citizens in Turkey.
President Putin also underlined that Turkish leader’s letter created prerequisites to turn over a “crises” page in the bilateral relations and begin the process of resuming collaboration on international and regional issues, as well as, developing entire range of Russian-Turkish relations.
Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24, 2015. Turkey said the bomber entered its airspace, while Russia denied its warplane flying into the Turkish skies.
Following the incident, Moscow imposed a wide-range of sanctions against Turkey starting in January, including the end of visa-free travel and a ban on Turkish food products. Moreover, Russia called on its citizens to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination. Economic relations between the two countries saw decline as well.
Recently, Turkish President Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed regret over the incident with Russian SU-24 jet and condolences to the family of the deceased pilot.
In addition, Turkey agreed to pay compensation according to the country’s officials.
Commenting on the improving relations with Russia, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildrim thanked Azerbaijan for its assistance in normalizing the country’s relations with Russian Federation.
Azerbaijan is also going to benefit from the ice-melting in Russian-Turkish ties as the country does not need any more to prefer one ally over another.
The recent developments between Turkey and Russia are also anticipated to positively affect the process of resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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