ISTANBUL: Turkiye confronted growing US pressure on Wednesday to break off its growing ties with Russia or face potentially crippling sanctions linked to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Washington is becoming increasingly alarmed that the Russian government and businesses are using Turkiye to evade Western financial and trade restrictions imposed in response to the six-month-old war, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to step up economic cooperation at a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi earlier this month.

US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in a letter to Turkiye’s TUSIAD business association and the American Chamber of Commerce in Turkiye warned that companies and banks were in danger of being sanctioned themselves.

TUSIAD said in a statement late Tuesday it passed on the letter to Turkiye’s foreign ministry as well as finance and trade officials. “Any individuals or entities providing material support to US-designated persons are themselves at risk of US sanctions,” Adeyemo wrote.

“Turkish banks cannot expect to establish corresponding relationships with sanctioned Russian banks and retain their corresponding relationships with major global banks as well as access to the US dollar and other major currencies.”

Adeyemo had also raised US concerns in a phone call to Turkish Deputy Finance Minister Yunus Elitas last Friday. “Underlining that it has deep economic and political relations with Ukraine and Russia, Elitas said that Turkiye’s position (on joining) the sanctions has not changed,” the finance ministry said in a statement about the call. However, it added, “It will not allow any institution or individual” to use Turkiye to evade the sanctions regime.

Erdogan has previously argued that Ankara cannot join Western sanctions on Moscow because of Turkey’s heavy dependence on Russian oil and natural gas imports.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2022