Turkey’s FM: ‘We do not intend to take part in sanctions against Russia’

Turkish foreign minister announced in a live broadcast on Tuesday that they were not planning to take part in the international sanctions against Russia, and neither has there been any attempt by a foreign state to coerce them into doing so.

Asked by the host of the broadcast whether or not Turkey would participate in the sanctions and if any call has been received from the Western bloc of countries, FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said:

“We discussed this in our cabinet meeting. In general terms, the sanctions are obviously likely to have an impact on the Russian economy, but they will impact the European Union who imposed sanctions as well; the European Union members, other countries, all of us. They will have an impact even on countries who are not involved.”

He continued:

“We are now examining carefully each and every sanction. We are trying to assess what the impact will be on our economy, to the security of our energy distribution network, the impact on airspace. On the other hand, we have not, by principal, ever participated in sanctions of this sort, and we do not intend to participate now. Our foreign colleagues do ask, and only ask, on our phone conversations if we’ll participate in the sanctions. Nobody has ever urged us to do so. We, in return, are explaining to them what the impact would be on our economy, on various industries, in case we do participate. As I said, they have only asked if we would. We have not yet been subjected to any coercion in this matter.”

Çavuşoğlu also stated that Turkey was not in a position to take sides in the recent conflict.

“Turkey does not have to take sides. Obviously, Turkey is a NATO member. We go by the book and comply with the rules of NATO. Turkey is acting on its principles. We are a country that cooperates with both parties despite differences. That does not make us take sides during a wartime; quite the opposite, we are able to establish a dialogue with both sides in an effort to end the war. We can not afford to take sides.”