ANKARA: Turkey has started carrying out extra border inspections of Russian goods in a mounting trade row that many fear was triggered by the conflict over Georgia, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Foreign Trade Minister Kursat Tuzmen was quoted as saying Russian goods would be subjected to detailed searches at border posts in retaliation for the extensive inspections holding up Turkish trucks in Russian customs.
Speculation is rife here that the Russian move is linked to Turkish support for neighbor Georgia, and especially Ankara’s decision to allow US warships to pass through the Turkish Straits into the Black Sea to deliver humanitarian aid to Tbilisi. “We had to respond to the restrictions raised against Turkish exports, which we cannot understand,” Tuzmen said on the sidelines of an international trade fair in China. Moscow, Turkey’s biggest trading partner, has not yet responded to Ankara’s requests to end the curbs imposed on Turkish goods, Tuzmen added.
“We do not want to escalate the dispute; we just want to speed up Russia’s answer,” he said.
Turkish media reports said that Russian customs officials have been subjecting Turkish trucks to extensive inspections for nearly a month, forcing them to wait for days and even weeks.
Officials say Turkey could end up losing as much as $3 billion (2 billion euros) from the Russian curbs.
Bilateral trade reached $28.2 billion (18.9 billion euros) last year. Turkey is also heavily dependent on Russia for its energy, including 63 percent of its natural gas and 29 percent of its oil, according to official figures.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned at the weekend that Ankara could not jeopardize trade ties with Russia and said the row would be discussed when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Istanbul today.
“Two thirds of our energy needs come from Russia ... Turkish contractors are behind significant investments in Russia. We cannot ignore this,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the press. Last month, Turkey drew Moscow’s ire when it allowed two US warships to pass through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits into the Black Sea to deliver relief supplies to Georgia.