Turkish farmers suffer Putin's wrath over Syria

Washington

ALONG a fertile stretch of the north-eastern Mediterranean, row after row of once-plump tomatoes are rotting on the vine.

The fallout from the war in Syria is creeping further into Turkey, where the sanctions Russia President Vladimir Putin imposed after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's forces downed a Russian jet 16 months ago are pushing farmers towards ruin.

"We cannot survive without the Russian market," said Munir Sen, the head of the association of fruit and vegetable brokers in Mersin, the southern city that hosts Turkey's biggest seaport. "Wastage rates have never been this high."

Mr Erdogan's efforts at rapprochement with Mr Putin have led to the lifting of the most punishing of the penalties, on Turkey's key tourism industry. But with the two leaders pursuing conflicting agendas in Syria, Mr Putin is refusing to budge on the tomato ban, …