In Kiev, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky. During the visit, the leaders of the two countries held closed talks, and also took part in the eighth meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish High-level Strategic Council. The presidents also visited the Turkish-Ukrainian business forum, a business event was held on February 3 in the Ukrainian capital.
As a result of negotiations in the presence of the Presidents of Ukraine and Turkey, the governments of the two countries signed a number of agreements. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Zagorodniuk and the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey Berat Albayrak signed an agreement on military-financial cooperation and an intergovernmental protocol on financial assistance. We are talking about allocating to Kiev for the needs of the Armed Forces about 200 million Turkish liras (about $ 36 million) for the acquisition of Turkish military and dual-use goods. This was reported by the press service of the office of the President of Ukraine.
In addition, the governments of the countries signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of disaster and emergency prevention and response. The negotiators also agreed to speed up work on the creation of a free trade zone between Turkey and Ukraine.
“We have an ambitious goal - to achieve bilateral trade of $ 10 billion,” said Vladimir Zelensky, commenting on negotiations with a Turkish counterpart.
During a briefing on the results of negotiations, the President of Ukraine said that the parties agreed to give a new impetus to cooperation in the aircraft industry. In particular, we are talking about the construction and delivery to Turkey of Ukrainian short-haul transport aircraft An-178.
The parties paid special attention to enhancing security in the Black Sea region, the Ukrainian leader added.
According to experts, the key goal of Ankara’s relations with Kiev is to extract the Turkish side’s own benefits in the economic and military-technical spheres.
“Turkey is helping Kiev in the first place in order to tie the Ukrainian army to Turkish arms supplies,” said Alexei Martynov, director of the Institute of Newest States, in an interview with RT.
Position in Crimea
The visit of the Turkish president to Kiev was not without political statements. Before flying to the Ukrainian capital, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the country's authorities continued to “defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and did not recognize the “illegal annexation of Crimea”. Erdogan also said that the Turkish side is monitoring the situation of the Crimean Tatars.
Commenting on these words of the Turkish leader, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Recep Tayyip Erdogan could personally visit Crimea to "see everything that is called from the source."
The Turkish president repeated his words about supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine upon arrival in Kiev.
“Once again, I want to emphasize that Turkey does not support the illegal annexation of Crimea,” the politician told reporters.
It should be noted that this is not the first such statement by the Turkish leader. Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced a similar position during his visit to Ukraine in the fall of 2017. Then he emphasized that Turkey supports the Ukrainian "territorial integrity, including Crimea."
“Despite good relations with Moscow, Ankara denies the reunification of Crimea with Russia. Turkey and Ukraine have much in common in this matter. First of all, Turkey supports the part of Crimean Tatars who consider themselves to be part of Turkish civilization, ”Vladimir Avatkov, senior researcher at IMEMO RAS, associate professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan noted in a commentary on RT.
According to experts, both Kiev and Ankara pursue their own goals. As the deputy director of the Institute of the CIS countries, Vladimir Zharikhin, explained in an interview with RT, Ukraine expects to receive political dividends from Turkey’s interest in the Crimean Tatars.
“For its part, Ankara, although it does not recognize Crimea as Russian, is not in a hurry to aggravate relations with Moscow. Turkey does not try to influence the situation in Crimea through its ties in the Crimean Tatar community, it behaves restrained in practice, despite statements, ”the expert said.
“Partnership is limited.”
As Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Sibiga told earlier in an interview with Ukrinform, about 400 Turkish businessmen showed interest in the business-business forum in Kiev. Over the past three years, there has been an increase in trade relations between Ukraine and Turkey. Today, the turnover is $ 4 billion, compared with the year before last, an increase of 9%.
The ambassador is sure that the transition to a higher level can take place after the signing of the agreement on the free trade zone, the discussion of which has been going on for the past 15 years. Back in 2005, the President of Ukraine (then Viktor Yushchenko held this post. - RT ) ordered to develop a draft of such an agreement with Turkey.
Speaking about the cooperation of Kiev and Ankara in the military-technical sphere, the diplomat noted that it helps strengthen the defense capabilities of both countries. Today, at different stages of implementation, Kiev and Ankara have over 50 defense projects. Among them are the deliveries of Turkish combat drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the production of engines at the Ilchenko-Progress GP for the Turkish UAV Akıncı.
The Turkish company Aselsan is involved in the modernization of Ukrainian armored vehicles and artillery. Today, Aselsan is acting as a key foreign partner in the framework of the program to re-equip the APU with new VHF tactical communication systems that meet NATO standards.
- Turkish UAV "Akıncı"
- © Salih Zeki Fazlioglu / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
In May 2016, representatives of the defense departments of Ukraine and Turkey signed a plan for military cooperation until 2020. As the AFU General Staff then specified, the plan included measures in the field of military planning and education, as well as cooperation between the branches of the armed forces.
In the same year, Petro Poroshenko, who was then president of Ukraine, agreed with a Turkish colleague that Ankara would transfer military equipment worth $ 810 thousand to the Armed Forces.
For its part, Kiev invited Ankara to participate in the privatization of Ukrainian industrial enterprises.
In January 2020, Kiev and Ankara signed an intergovernmental protocol on cooperation in the defense sector.
However, experts are not inclined to exaggerate the scale and objectives of Turkish-Ukrainian cooperation in the defense and other fields. As Yuri Mavashev, director of the Center for the Study of New Turkey, noted in a conversation with RT, the partnership between Kiev and Ankara are natural ties between neighboring countries.
“Ankara is accustomed to diversify its relations, this is quite typical behavior for the Turkish side. We should not think that now we are talking about some kind of radical turn towards Kiev, just Turkey is acting in accordance with its interests in each specific situation, ”the expert noted.
- Ukrainian border guards and coastal service of Turkey patrol the Black Sea
- © navy.mil.gov.ua
At the same time, despite the statements of the Turkish leadership in Crimea, Kiev is aware that Ankara does not intend to change relations with Russia to friendship with Ukraine, Yuri Mavashev believes.
A similar point of view is shared by Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin.
“Kiev and Ankara are neighbors in the Black Sea region. But their partnership is limited, we are not talking about major investments in the Ukrainian economy, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.
Vladimir Avatkov, senior researcher at IMEMO RAS, associate professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, believes that Ankara is building up cooperation with Kiev in the military-technical field in order to gain access to the technological base that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet period.
“Ankara, like China, is trying now to buy up the remnants of old Soviet production along with technology. Therefore, Turkish-Ukrainian cooperation will be strengthened exactly as long as Ukraine has something to sell. Turks know a lot about trade and do not miss good opportunities, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.
As for the political aspects of cooperation, Ankara defends the point of view according to which the Black Sea should remain the zone of influence of the Black Sea countries, including Russia.
“However, Ankara has always looked for opportunities to balance Russia's influence in the region by actively including other regional players. This role today should play Ukraine, according to the plan of the Turkish side. However, in general, Ankara is still oriented towards Moscow, if we are talking about the Black Sea basin, ”Avatkov believes.
As the expert recalled, now Ankara and Moscow are in a rather complicated interaction in the Syrian and Libyan directions.
“In this light, one can expect from Erdogan to tighten rhetoric and steps in the Ukrainian direction, which is extremely important from the point of view of Russian interests. Ankara is simply trying to use the situation to its advantage, ”the expert concluded.