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| Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands |
International Military - Considering February 24 is the day on which Russian President, Vladimir Putin deploys a large-scale military aggression against Ukraine. The reason they attack Ukraine is actually closely related to the United States and its NATO allies. To explain it, we need to go back to the time of the Soviet Union, when the two countries (Russia and Ukraine) had a long shared history.
Long story short, their closeness resulted in a number of military bases left by the Soviets which are located in these two countries. Then switch to 2014 when the war in the Donbas between Russia and Ukraine took place. Russia's goal of attacking the Donbas was to prevent Ukraine from joining the European Union.
Since then, relations between Russia and Ukraine have started to deteriorate, and in the end the current President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has the intention to join NATO. What Putin worries about Ukraine's bid to join NATO is the many Soviet-era nuclear bases there.
So, if Ukraine officially becomes a member of NATO, this historic and sensitive “territory”, Western countries can control it. That's what underlies the incident that took place since February 24, and the response of the US and its allies is to impose economic sanctions on Russia.
Russia no longer has access to the world bank, their economic relations with other countries are disrupted and much more. The NATO countries that do not agree with the idea of economic sanctions are those that are close to Russia and Ukraine, namely Turkey.
Turkey has no intention of joining the economic sanctions against Russia over its dispute with Ukraine. "As a principle, we do not participate in the witness, and have no intention of joining any kind of agenda in it," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt avuşoğlu told TASS.
One of the reasons why Turkey does not agree with the US idea is because they have close economic ties with Russia. Namely as one of the largest consumers of oil and gas from Russia, citing Defense Security Asia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that he cannot allow his citizens to freeze without Russian gas. “In terms of sanctions, we are studying certain UN guidelines, but don't forget that we cannot rule out our relationship with Russia half of the natural gas we use comes from Russia. In addition, we are building the Akkuyu nuclear power plant with them. Firstly, I can't let people freeze in winter and secondly, I can't build (Akkuyu) industry myself,” the Turkish president told TASS.
But, in addition, it was reported that Turkey had sent 56 trucks of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. “The trucks were loaded with food, clothes, medicine. And the number of deliveries will continue to increase,” Erdogan added.
A second reason Turkey disagrees with economic sanctions against Russia is that it wants to remain a “fair broker”, Defense Security Asia quotes. Namely as an honest and neutral mediator in an effort to resolve the conflict between these two countries (Russia and Ukraine).
If Turkey decides to take part in the economic sanctions effort, it will tarnish its reputation as a mediator for the conflicted country.