Protests against the Turkish government in Russia following the downing of a Russian jet on the Turkey/Syria border have intensified. Last week, Russians burned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in effigy before a Turkish embassy in Crimea.
In Simferopol, a group put together a hay effigy of Erdoğan in the main square. They proceeded to light it on fire while chanting “Down with ISIS (Islamic State).”
The Turkish embassy in Moscow has faced numerous protests since Nov. 24. Members of the conservative Rodina Party delivered an Erdogan effigy in a coffin to the building.
Over the weekend, protesters attacked the embassy building.
Some protesters asked the Turkish government if they are for or against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). Others accused the country of allying themselves with the radical Islamic group.
Breitbart News has documented links between ISIS and Turkey, a NATO country, over the past year and a half. Turkish officials, who vocally oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, joined the fight against ISIS this summer after a terrorist attack within Turkish borders. Evidence has surfaced indicating Turkish military assets are targeting Islamic State areas less than they are using their resources against the Kurds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin passed economic sanctions against Turkey on Saturday. Earlier this week, Medvedev warned that the many joint projects between the two countries could be in danger. The Turkish government “commissioned Russia’s state-owned Rosatom in 2013 to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors in a project worth $20 billion.” The TurkStream pipeline project could be affected as well, a project intended as a way to transport natural gas to Europe without going through Ukraine.
“There are a lot of Turkish companies operating in the construction business in the Russian market; there is cooperation in the tourism sector,” stated Dmitry Abzalov, the vice president of the Center for Strategic Communications. “The termination of relations with Moscow on these issues will be negative for the Turkish economy, and it will hit the national currency the lira.”
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture also declared their sector “would strengthen control over food supplies” and “perform additional border and production checks.” The Kremlin did not include Turkey in their Western food ban in 2014 in retaliation for the West’s sanctions on Russia following its aggression towards Ukraine.
“About 15 percent of Turkish agricultural products on average do not meet Russian standards,” said Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev.