Italy and Turkey are in deep crisis after the statements of our Prime Minister, Mario Draghi which defined the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan "A dictator". Although diplomacy is moving with less fiery tones, the debate in Turkey does not subside, indeed with the passing of the days it becomes more and more heated. The Turkish government demands official apologies, excuses that do not come from Rome. Istanbul is therefore determined to raise the bar, even with vetoes on trade between the two countries. We recall that the commercial exchange between Italy and Turkey, before Covid, amounted to about 17 billion euros a year with over 1500 Italian companies engaged in various capacities. Our local one stands out among all Ferrero, which produces there a substantial part of the hazelnuts used for its products.
To end up in the crosshairs of the Turkish reprisal, writes Repubblica, was even the most representative company of the defense industry, the Leonardo, formerly of Finmeccanica. After two years of negotiations, the signing of the contract for the purchase of ten AW169 training helicopters was expected in these days. An order worth over 70 million euros, which was to be the first trance of an agreement to replace old Agusta-Bell 206 of the school of the Turkish armed forces: the total amount for the Italian company could exceed 150 million. At the end of March Ismail Demir, the president of the Defense Industries, that is the government body that manages the orders, had announced the agreement with Leonardo.
But now the operation is suspended, the Turkish authorities say. There are also problems Ansaldo Energia, owner of 40 per cent of a group that for a year has been negotiating with Turkish banks and authorities the management of the debts for hundreds of millions accumulated by the power plant of Gebze, in the industrial area of Istanbul.
The toughest of the Anatolian government is the Minister of Industry Mustafa Varank: "There are no lessons in democracy that Turkey can receive from the prime minister "in charge" of Italy, who invented fascism ". Then he said that the Italian rulers let asylum seekers die and must take humanity lessons from Turkey, inviting them to admire President Erdogan.
The spokesman of the AKP Orner Celik, Ergogan's party, used very harsh words: "They called our president "dictator" and then added that they must cooperate with us on immigration. And the height of hypocrisy. These people who treat migrants in a dictatorial and immoral way think they have to teach us about democracy. First take your democracy out of the Mediterranean waters, then speak up ”.
From the Farnesina they let it be known that there are close diplomatic relations in these days.