Azerbaijan offers sanctions-hit Turkey a helping hand

 

The national secretary for the regional transport association TRACECA, Akif Mustafayev, said Baku had approved Turkey’s request for transport assistance, Xinhua reports.

 

Russia hit Turkey with a range of sanctions in retaliation for the shooting down of a Russian jet over the Syrian-Turkish border. In addition to restrictions on mainly agricultural imports, Russian companies are now banned from employing Turkish citizens, and Russian travel agencies cannot organize trips to Turkey, Hurriyet Daily News says.

 

The Turkey-Russia row is putting the squeeze on Baku, which cannot afford to alienate either its close Turkic neighbor or its key trading partner.

 

"Russia has multiple ways it can exert pressure on Azerbaijan, which, because of the economic downturn, may be more susceptible to social discontent than at any time in recent memory,” EurasiaNet.org comments.

 

As the deputy speaker of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Bahar Muradova, put it, "Turkey is our close fraternal country. We cannot remain indifferent to the tension in the relations between the two countries,” the Trend news agency reports.

 

"I hope that the leadership and people of Turkey and Russia will not allow confrontation, which can lead to a great disaster,” she said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged the Turkish and Russian leaders to put aside their tit-for-tat putdowns and focus on the goal of combating terrorism. Obama met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Paris climate talks, Bloomberg reports.

 

Russian leader Vladimir Putin accuses Turkey of buying oil from Islamic State in Syria, the BBC says. Speaking in Paris on 30 November, he said, "We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the oil supply lines to Turkish territory.”

 

Russia is Turkey's second-largest trading partner. Last year more than 3 million Russians visited Turkey.