Turkey assess effects of Russia’s sanctions

The Turkish Ministry of Economy said it was assessing the damage to the country’s exporting sector after Moscow announced it would stop importing fruit and vegetable from Turkey as part of a package of sanctions announced on Saturday in a Kremlin decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin if Ankara did not apologise for shooting down a Russian warplane last week.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported the Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci as saying, in a statement on Sunday, that officials in the ministry will hold an urgent meeting with members of the Turkish Export Council to discuss the Russian sanctions and find solutions to avoid losses.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government announced a series of decisions in response to the Russian sanctions including preventing the entry of trucks coming from Russia and to conduct thorough inspections of Russian imports and items passing through Russia.

Reports emerged that Ankara is considering the imposition of stricter rules on Russian businessmen coming to Turkey.

Turkish economic sources said that tourism will be the most affected by the Russian actions.

Bacharan Ulusoy, chairman of the Federation of Tourism Agencies, said: “The Russian measures are very severe and will impact heavily the tourism sector in the Turkish city of Antalya, therefore the government should intervene to limit losses.”

Ulusoy expected Turkey’s tourism sector’s losses to reach at least $3.5 billion.

However, Fikri Ozturk, owner of Ozturk Corporations one of the largest companies working in the tourism sector, played down the importance of the Russian sanctions, saying Russian tourists come in the summer, “giving us more time to avoid losses”.

An official at the Turkish Federation of Fruits and Vegetables Exports said exporters should reduce their prices to open themselves to new markets.