The answer to the question about the ownership of Crimea is clear and wrote in an article for the Aydınlık newspaper, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov.
“And whose Jerusalem? And if you stop now some Turk on the streets of Ankara or Istanbul and ask him, whose is Hatay? The answer will be unequivocal, and well, if not with a “Janissary slap in the face.” So in Russia – if you ask a Russian whose Crimea – the answer will be clear and precise, ”he wrote.
Hatay is an il (region) in the southern part of Turkey, Ankara has long been in conflict with Syria about its ownership. The region became part of Turkey following a referendum in 1939, but Damascus recognized its status only in 2005.
According to the ambassador, most of the people who doubted that Crimea belonged to Russia had already left for the UK.
Turkey does not recognize Crimea as part of Russia.