Torgul Ismail, Ankara
Recep Erdogan is officially visiting Ukraine. In Kiev he and the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich headed the second session of the Strategic Council of Ukraine and Turkey. On September 14 Erdogan will conduct talks in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and participate in the 9th annual session of the Yalta European Strategy where he will speak as a special guest.
Considering an important role of Ukraine in stability in the Black Sea region, Turkey pays great attention to its relations with this country and wants to develop the cooperation in all spheres. In recent times relations between Ukraine and Turkey have gained a character of strategic partnership. The best confirmation for it is a stable growth of trade turnover and mutual investments, mutual support of international initiatives by Ankara and Kiev. However, experts note that political relations falls behind economic cooperation. From this point of view the current visit by Premier of Turkey has a progressive significance.
The countries chosen by Erdogan for visits are notable. At first Azerbaijan, then Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is clear that the current Turkish policy is focused on three bordering territories: the Black Sea and the Caucasian region and Balkans. That is why Ukraine is considered by Turkey as a friendly and strategically important country. There are many advantages in cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine. The main thing is to structure the relations in separate strategic directions with maximum usage of the transit potential.
Another important factor defining the essence of Turkish-Ukrainian relations is the problem of Crimean Tatars. It is a delicate issue of permanent agenda of the countries. Turkey implements all agreements of Crimean Tatars under control of the central authorities of Ukraine. Turkey considers the problem an internal affair of Ukraine, and Ankara has no right to break sovereignty of Ukraine.
