One thing the article doesn’t specifically mention in $ terms is the fact that these economic embargoes & sanctions apply to tourism sector too. Tourism being a major source of revenue for Erdogan govt.
Russian tourists visiting Turkey are only second in numbers to Germans tourists visiting Turkey. One reason being that Turkey did not require pre-entry visas from Russian passport holders.
In terms of revenue, in 2014 Turkey generated some $4 billion USD (some estimate say circa $6 billion USD) from Russian tourists visiting Turkey. Russians visiting Turkey tend to spend a lot.
It simply doesn’t make any sense.
Billions easily flow into Turkey from Russian tourists. From May to October....a couple dozen planes each day make the flight down and dump off Russians. They spend money on hotels, rental cars, stupid tours, booze, and gifts. The money flowed into small towns along the southern coast and everyone was benefiting from the growth in tourism over the past decade.
Now? You can’t make up any new clients to fill the empty hole left by the Russians. Greece? They probably are getting calls already and will see a surge of 100-percent in terms of Russian tourists for 2016.