By Vestnik Kavkaza
Ankara expects that a meeting of the presidents of Russia and Turkey will take place this year in Russia.
Sergei Markov, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, the director of the Institute of Political Studies, doesn’t exclude that the issue of Turkey’s access to the Customs and Eurasian Union will be formed, as Ankara has no chances of becoming a member of the EU.
“The structures of the Russian and Turkish economies are not competing, but complementing each other. Spheres which are developed in Russia are underdeveloped in Turkey. Spheres which are developed in Turkey are often not developed in Russia. Integration between the Russian and Turkish economies is very beneficial. It is more beneficial than with many other countries,” Markov thinks.
According to him, along with the economy, there is such a powerful aspect as ideology: “Russia and Turkey try to combine their traditional values with the values of a secular modern state. The model differs from the European one, which is actually post-religious, post-Christian, shifting traditional values, including religious ones, from the social life to the personal life. The European countries are not only secular, but also atheistic and anti-religious.”
Markov thinks that Turkey’s position on Ukraine is an important stage in relations between Moscow and Ankara: “The leadership of Turkey has a sober position. It actually supported Russia, rejecting participation in sanctions, and actively substituted agricultural products of the EU in the Russian market, despite the EU’s demands not to do this. Moreover, we remember that the Turkish government during the crisis in South Ossetia in 2008 told the American government that it would demand strict following of the Montreux Agreement from the Americans, which actually limited the American presence in the Black Sea.”
Markov is sure that the West “has a goal to organize a state overthrow in Russia and Turkey. Protests in Gezi in Istanbul and other demonstrations were not only sudden, but also supported by many people. At least the American and European media had a united position – they supported the protests. Actually, the USA and the EU press and their politicians encouraged activists who organized the demonstrations in Istanbul and other cities to turning to the Maidan format. And the Turkish Maidan is one of threats to the current Turkish leadership.”
Markov also paid attention to the fact that “Turkey and Russia effectively cooperate in the Caucasus. They have managed not to fight about problems in the region. Along with the Moscow-Yerevan-Tehran axis, a Moscow-Baku-Ankara axis is forming in Russia.”
