Moscow is lifting travel restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey after a period of diplomatic tension with plans to resume "mutually advantageous" trade relations.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he asked his government to begin "the process of normalising general trade and economic ties with Turkey", fixing badly strained relations since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane taking part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria last year.
"I want to start with the question of tourism ... we are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area," Putin told government ministers in televised comments.
Russian tourism to Turkey last month was down more than 90 percent year on year, according to figures by Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Overall tourism in Turkey was down about 35 percent last month compared with the same period last year, the ministry said.
'Sorry'
The development came days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret for the downing of the Russian jet in a letter this week to Putin.
The Russian leader said the letter created conditions to close "this crisis chapter" in bilateral relations.
On Wednesday, Putin and Erdogan held a "constructive" telephone conversation, according to the Kremlin.
Putin told Erdogan he hoped that a criminal case launched against a Turkish citizen accused of killing the Russian pilot of the downed warplane would be an objective one.
This is quite interesting. This came just a couple days after Brexit shook the world and made the UK leave the EU and started a wave of demands to leave the EU in Europe, most notably in Czechia, France, Holland, and Poland.
And Erdogan had sworn to never apologize, so this is quite a shock. With all that is happening lately, perhaps Erdogan has come to doubt his western allies and reluctantly wants to form ties with Russia despite Russia supporting Kurdistan?
At the very least Erdogan wants to normalize relations, perhaps to relieve pressure off Turkey and to cool things down.
Also Erdogan earlier this month stated suggested a referendum for if Turks still wanted to join the EU(Source: http://www.euractiv.com/section/enlargement/news/erdogan-suggests-referendum-to-ask-turks-if-they-still-want-to-join-eu/).
Prior to the incident with Russia, Turkey was looking into joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), and with the recent admittance of India and Pakistan into the SCO(They will fully ascend in 2017), Turkey may be next if they heal ties with Russia enough. There are even rumors that Turkey may be looking into leaving NATO and/or becoming more friendly and possibly allies with Russia and China. While unlikely, it is possible, and would give Russia a powerful ally in the Middle East.
A series of unlikely events have happened this past month: Brexit, India and Pakistan joining SCO, Pakistan ruling out force for taking Kashmir(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pakistan-cannot-conquer-kashmir-through-war-hina-rabbani-khar/articleshow/52960248.cms), diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan about Kashmir(Which may or may not come to nothing), Erdogan apologizing, and Boris Johnson announcing that he will not run for leader of UK(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/boris-johnsons-path-to-british-prime-ministership-scrambled-by-allys-defection/2016/06/30/c8c7476e-3df8-11e6-9e16-4cf01a41decb_story.html), the world seems to be going topsy-turvy.
What do you say NSG? What do you think this event signifies?
