After Tuesday’s Turkish downing of a Russian bomber over Syria, the Russian government is talking up economic retaliation, with an eye toward cutting some trade with Turkey and restricting certain big-ticket projects in Turkey in protest for the attack.
Early talk is over limiting produce purchases, buying from nations like Israel and Iran instead, and slowing certain major projects, like the nuclear power plant Russia is building for Turkey, as economic measures against them.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called such moves “unfitting” for politicians to make, but he is also insisting he will never apologize for shooting down the Russian plane, even though he says he’d have never shot it down if he knew it belonged to Russia.
Russia is Turkey’s third most important importer, and trade with them is worth tens of billions of dollars. Slowing construction of projects like the southern gas pipeline could do considerable damage to both Russia and Turkey, exacerbating tensions.
If he really said that he would not have let the Russian jet be shot down if he knew that it belonged to Russia, he is even more of a lying sneak than we already know he is. Who's plane did he think it was? Islamic State?
In fact he didn't say it.Google and you'll find what he really said.
"Erdogan… says he’d have never shot it down if he knew it belonged to Russia."
I see, Turkey murdered an unknown pilot that was over two miles from Turkey border, murdered a pilot from an unknown nation when pilot could have been flying a jet belonging to any of the NATO allies? But surely, such stupidity is more damaging to Erdogan's character then if he had owned up to the truth.
An Indian newspaper reports that Erdogan said that "if it was a Russian plane maybe we would have warned it differently", not that Turkey would never have shot it down if he knew it belonged to Russia. When Putin imposed counter-sanctions on the EU, we were told that they were going to do massive damage to the EU and no damage to Russia. Now, we're told sanctions cause considerable damage to both Russia and Turkey". Putin's supporters have lost a lot of their swagger! Russia needs the trade far more than Turkey. It can always build another pipeline and find someone else to build the nuclear power plant. Remember what happened in Nasser's time when the US backed out of the Aswan Dam project. The Soviets stepped in and built it!