According to the western media, Turkey’s business community is confronting growing US pressure to break off its ties with Russia or face potentially crippling sanctions by the United States and its allies. The US Strategists are of the view that the Russian government and businesses are using Turkey to evade Western financial and trade restrictions imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo paid a rare visit to Ankara in June to express Washington’s worries in this regard. The US authorities also addressed a letter to Turkey’s Tusiad business association, warning that companies and banks can face US sanctions if they continue their dealing with Russia-based US-designated persons and entities in the future. According to the Biden administration, Turkish banks cannot expect to establish business relationships with sanctioned Russian banks and retain their corresponding relationships with global banks, hence the Turkish entities must choose their future course.
The US-Russia rivalry is gradually expanding as the war in Ukraine has entered seven months but both competing nations could not achieve their strategic objectives so far. The United States and its allies failed to trash the Russian economy besides using their most lethal sanctions tools and economic blockade of their opponent, while the Russian military could not overcome the resistance of Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers by reckless use of highly trained fighting force, modern weaponry and unparalleled crimes against civilians. Putin’s regime has not only tactfully eluded western sanctions by expanding trade of its cheaper oil, gas, and other products to various countries including Turkey, India, Japan, Iran, Venezuela, South Korea, and Bangladesh but also started dealing in local currency and Russia originated Mir payment system. This situation enraged the western nations and the furious west ramped up its pressure on non-aligned nations to pause their trading with Moscow so the west could be able to kneel its staunch enemy.
Turkey, the Europe lone Muslim nation choose to stay neutral in the conflict between Russian Federation and Ukraine and had always endeavored to keep a balance in its relation with both warring nations while playing a positive role in reducing tension, and signing of grain deal between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey is heavily dependent on Russia for its oil import, which has increased many folds in recent months while the value of Turkish exports to Moscow has grown by nearly 50 percent between May to July as compared to figures last year.
The current American pressure on Turkey came after Turkey’s Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi and agreed to step up economic cooperation and transition to rubble payments between the two countries for the natural gas purchases from Russia.
Interestingly, American authorities authored a letter to the Turkish Business Association to build domestic pressure on Erdogan’s administration but the Turkish government declared that Turkey’s position on joining the sanctions has not changed. In fact, global politics had ruined businesses, halted trade, and added to the miseries of the people across the globe. The western nations threw away their legacy of free trade, open borders, and public rights and started waging a codeless war against their rivals while the entire world became victim to their hostility. Hence, the entire world is astonished by the different shades of the west’s trade and diplomacy.
