ANKARA, February 2. /TASS/. Turkey still prioritizes expansion of trade and economic cooperation with Russia despite the US’ pressure, Director General of the Russian-Turkish Business Council at Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alexey Yegarmin told TASS.
"Indeed, Russian and Turkish businesses are currently facing problems with mutual settlements. It should be noted here that the Turkish authorities’ main line of political and economic cooperation has not changed. Turkey still prioritizes its national interests, and those interests are closely connected with expansion of trade and economic cooperation with Russia. However, there are notable limitations that occurred due to the strong pressure put by unfriendly countries, particularly the US, on Turkey," he said.
"This is due to this pressure that money flows on trade operations are not accepted by Turkish banks and get back," Yegarmin added. "The main reason is that banks face hard terms of choice. Either they work with entities from Russia and then they are deprived of the opportunity to work with Europe and the US, or with Europe but without Russia. Turkey has always been a trade crossing, which is why it is fairly difficult to make a choice here," he noted.