Economic and trade relations between the countries are very important, Cultural Attache of Russian Embassy in Turkey Alexander Sotnichenko said. At the same time, contacts in sphere of culture and politics have the same importance, REGNUM news agency reports.
The diplomat recalled that at least 100,000 Russians live in Turkey today. Russian language is among the top three in terms of prevalence after Turkish and English.
The ability to speak Russian in the tourist and trade sectors is especially necessary, he added. Moreover, Moscow and Ankara are now jointly implementing several very large-scale projects. Turkish Stream gas pipeline, the construction of a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu and the delivery of S-400 air defense system are among them. Bilateral cooperation is developing in many areas. In particular, the central office of Gazprom in Saint Petersburg and the highway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow were built with the participation of Turkey. The current year has been declared the Cross Year of Culture of the two countries.
According to the Embassy, more than 5 million tourists from Russia visited Turkey in 2018, and this figure will definitely increase next year, the diplomat added.
Russkiy Mir
