Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially lifted restrictions on tourism in Turkey after mending ties broken with Ankara after Turkey shot down of one of Moscow’s fighter jets.
Putin signed a decree on 30th June lifting a ban on the sale of package tours in Turkey and ordered the government to permit charter flights to recommence flights to Turkey again.
Lifting the ban heralds a rapid reversal after seven months of soured relations between Moscow and Ankara over the downing of a Russian fighter jet in Syria last November.
Putin promised on 29th June to lift the sanctions after speaking on the phone to his counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for the first time since the incident.
The Russian leader has also ordered the government to normalise trade ties with Turkey, in a gesture that should soon see the lifting of embargoes on the import of some Turkish food products. The downing of the Russian plane near the Turkey-Syria border rapidly halted developing relations between Moscow and Ankara and sparked a bitter war of words between the leaders.
Rapprochement began after Erdogan sent a letter of apology for the incident to Putin on 27th June.
Turkish tourism has suffered a heavy blow, after a sharp decline in the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline holiday resorts.
The lifting of the package tour ban was announced after Turkey suffered another suicide bomb attack, this time at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on 28th June which left at least 44 people dead.
Hurriyet
