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BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia and Turkey have in recent years sought to step up cooperation. They agreed to build a new gas pipeline beneath the Black Sea and Turkey's first nuclear power plant, while targeting 100 billion dollars in bilateral trade for 2023. But Turkey's President has warned Russia it risks losing Turkey as a friend if its behavior continues. Earlier we spoke to Mr. Simon Saradzhyan, a Research Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He told us on what the incident could mean for ties between the two countries.
"If this incident continues,that could impact Russia's interests in Turkey, primarily the Turkey's pipelines. And in the longer run, it might impact Turkey's stance on Russia's own insurgency problems in the Caucas region. However, if this get resolved quickly, and I hope it will, given the invitation from the Turkey side for consultations. I suspect, this will be resolved and there will not be a long term impact on the Russia-Turkey relations."
"Chairman of State Duma's committee of international affairs has said that the operation is planned to last for 3 to 4 months. So it's quite open-ended. But I will not rule out the possibility of it being dragged on. I will discount the possibility that Russia would go on ground offensive. But I cannot rule out the situation in which Russia ground troops in Syria would engage in ground combat if attacked, or of the military installations become under fire," Simon Saradzhyan said.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
