Turkey plays down US sanctions threat over Russia ties

Turkey played down the United States sanctions threat over Russia ties on Friday. Turkey’s finance minister said that they should not be concerned by the threat of sanctions that the US warns if Turkey does business with sanctioned Russians.

The Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey, Nureddin Nebati, wrote on Twitter about the US warnings against Turkey. His Twitter comments represent Turkey’s first official response to a letter the US Treasury sent to Turkish businesses on Monday.

Reportedly, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, warned Turkish banks and companies that they would face secondary US sanctions if they cooperated with sanctioned Russians. Turkey’s top business association received a letter from the US Treasury. 

Turkey’s finance minister said the letter should not “cause concern in our business circles.” In the letter, the US warned Turkish companies of possible sanctions if they continue doing business with Russia.

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, agreed to step up economic cooperation at a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi earlier this month. The value of Turkish trade with Russia also shot up by nearly 50 percent between May and July.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) member Turkey — on good terms with both Russia and Ukraine— have tried to stay neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war. However, US officials worry that sanctioned Russian authorities are setting up Turkish entities to trade with the outside world.

Earlier, Adeyemo paid a rare visit to Turkey’s Ankara and Istanbul to express Washington’s concern that Russian businessmen and big companies were using the name of Turkish entities to avoid Western sanctions. However, Turkey refused to join the international sanctions regime.

Reportedly, the US is also worried that Russia may be using Turkey to acquire technology, whose export has been banned by Washington and the European Union (EU).