By Murat Yetkin
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan departs for Russia on Aug. 9 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg in his first trip abroad since the failed coup attempt of July 15.
It will also be Erdoğan’s first visit to Russia after the crisis that began with the downing of a Russian Su-24 jet by Turkish F-16s after they violated the border with Syria on Nov. 24, 2015; two Russian air force pilots died as a result of the incident.
The crisis in the political sphere had implications in the economic arena as well as Turkey’s tourism industry suffered a major blow that came in addition to suicide bomb attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Turkish food exports to Russia also dipped.
Turkish security operations against ISIL and the PKK were also blocked by the Russianpresence there. And big Turkish companies that were involved in the tourism, construction and retail business in Russia started to experience serious difficulties. But the crisis was ultimately ended, opening the way for normalization, which enabled the Aug.9 visit following a statement from the Kremlin on June 27.
