Turkey plans to invest $12.5 billion in Crimea. Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksenov attended a meeting with Turkish investors yesterday. "The first stage is to the amount of $1 billion," the head of the delegation of Turkish businessmen, the vice-president of the organisation of the industrial sector of the Turkish city of Kayseri, Suleyman Sarptash said.
According to him, there are all conditions for investments in Crimea, so Turkish businessmen are interested in the whole peninsula, especially Simferopol, Yalta, Sevastopol, Kerch and Bakhchisarai. In this regard, the vice president assured that the delegation arrived in Crimea with serious intentions and it is ready to invest. Sarptash said that Turkish businessmen have chosen Simferopol as the first city in which to invest their money.
In addition, they plan to invest in the furniture industry, light industry and health tourism.
An expert of the Center for Strategic Studies of Turkey, BİLGE, political scientist Orhan Gafarli, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the desire of Turkish businessmen to invest $12.5 billion in Crimea shows that Turkey is interested in developing relations with Russia, despite the current uncertainty of the status of Crimea.
Talking about whether the project somehow complicates the relations between Turkish business and the countries which imposed sanctions against the Crimea, the analyst pointed out that for Turkey such a move is very risky from a political point of view. "It is possible that Ukraine will be dissatisfied with this decision. There may also be conflicts with the West and with the United States," the political scientist concluded.
The director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, in his turn, said that absolutely all industries in Crimea are attractive for Turkish businessmen. However, he expressed the opinion that Turkey's relations with the countries which have imposed sanctions against Crimea could deteriorate. "Turkey is focusing on business. This is evident from the Turkish Stream and the latest investment project in Crimea. I think that the Turks will finally win," Alexei Mukhin said.
