The tomato issue

It was the tomato that left its mark on the meeting at Sochi between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was announced that the two leaders were able to reach a consensus on a complicated and critical matter like Syria but were not able to agree on the one issue on tomatoes.  

When Presidential Spokesman İbrahim Kalın, whom we are used to seeing with an always serious expression, shared a picture of a tomato on Twitter; the tomato became the most popular topic of the day. 

Though, even if the Sochi meeting hadn't taken place, we would still be talking about the tomato in its role in the 1.31 percent inflation in April. 

Thus, it has become a must to write about the tomato over our relations with Russia and the Syria issue.    

One day before Erdoğan and Putin's meeting, a Western diplomat, who knows the matter very well, shared a detail with me that was not so important at that moment, but it became interesting and significant after the meeting, because it was related to the tomato. 

The diplomat I spoke to drew attention to the fact that at certain regions under the control of the opposition in Syria, local people were growing several fruits and vegetables, mainly tomatoes. Nothing is interesting about this so far, but tradesmen from the regions under Bashar al-Assad's control bought these products and imported them to Russia, elevating the situation to an interesting level. 

While Russia is importing fruits and vegetables from countries such as Uzbekistan, and even importing tomatoes grown in areas under the control of groups they are fighting against, how realistic is it to tell Turkey, "We are now growing tomatoes ourselves; we do not need any from you?" 

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