Turkey Fights To Remain A Regional Superpower

What You Need To Know:

✅ “The decision by Turkey and Russia to bring back their relationships to normalcy was taken before the coup;”

✅ After the country shot down a Russian jet in November, Turkey and Russia virtually cut off all ties;

✅ "Turkey going back to a normal dialogue with Russia…doesn’t mean forgetting about what happened in Ukraine or Crimea;"

✅ When asked about the proposed Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline, Can Tezel doesn’t think the coup affected the project’s progress.

“The decision by Turkey and Russia to bring back their relationships to normalcy was taken before the coup,” says Yonet Can Tezel, Turkey’s Ambassador to Ukraine. After the country shot down a Russian jet in November, Turkey and Russia virtually cut off all ties. “During those seven months it was abnormal not to be speaking with Russia.”

The recent crisis, along with a slow response from the West to condemn the coup and show public support for the Tayyip Erdogan government, has pushed Turkey to realign its priorities in the region. Russia and Turkey are warming up to each other once again.

“Turkey going back to a normal dialogue with Russia…doesn’t mean forgetting about what happened in Ukraine or Crimea,“ says Can Tezel adding that from day one of the crisis, “we were on the side of Ukraine.”

When asked about the proposed Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline, Can Tezel doesn’t think the coup affected the project’s progress. “Turkey, like Ukraine, needs to diversify its energy resources. We are also quite dependent on Russia.” The pipeline would benefit Ukraine and Europe, adds the Ambassador.

Hromadske's Tetyana Ogarkova sat down with Yonet Can Tezel, Turkey’s Ambassador to Ukraine in Kyiv in August, 2016.