MURAT YETKİN
US sanctions on Iran and Turkey, and the state of the economy
As the Turkish government tries to find a way out of one of the worst currency crises ever in its history, U.S. President Donald Trump boldly said that any country that trades with Iran will not be able to trade with the U.S. as he put the sanctions into effect on Aug. 6. The sanctions on Iran, with the power to ruin the nuclear deal, were objected by the European Union and Russia. Turkey has already announced that there is no obligation or any decision made to abide by the U.S. economic sanctions on Iran. It would put the Turkish economy under new pressures since Turkey buys almost half of its oil (44 percent in 2017) from its eastern neighbor Iran with a trade volume of more $10.7 billion last year. The secondary effect is likely to hit Turkey with a possible increase in oil (and gas prices). Turkey’s other oil and natural gas source is Russia, its northern neighbor, which is also subjected to U.S. sanctions, and Turkey needs to import oil and gas to sustain its growth in order to be able to put its economy back on track.
August 07 2018
