Why did Erdogan clear Serbia of all taxes?

Influenced by Russia, Turkey has completely changed its geopoliticality in the Balkans, diverting the axis of trade relations from Albanian to Serbian trains. Under this new trend, Ankara has approved a free trade agreement with Belgrade.

Turkey's Parliament has ratified an agreement on free trade with Serbia, a move that enables Serbian products tax-free access to the Turkish market. The news suggests Serbian media, which quote Minister of Commerce Rasim Lajjic.

Thanks to this deal, Serbia will be able to export about 5,000 tons of meat to Turkey annually, 25 thousand tons of sunflower oil, another 10 thousand tons of processed oil, 15 thousand tons of sunflower seeds, 5 thousand tons of soybeans, 1,000 tons of products for animal food and 500 tons of food products.

The “Agreement allows Serbia to double its export quota with Turkey”, said Minister Lajic, who has expressed optimism that the accord reached between Belgrade and Ankara will serve as a boost to deepening bilateral co-operation in the future.

According to the Serbian official, in 2018 alone, income from trade exchanges between the two countries exceeded 1 billion euros. It is a radical change in Turkey's foreign policy, which was earlier keen to invest in Albanian trends.

All this happens when the country is more than ever under Moscow's influence, with which it was very difficult to reconcile after the November 2015 crash of a Russian military plane that had entered Turkish airspace. Episode exacerbated bilateral relations, but since their renewal the Turkey-Russia alliance seems indisputable.

And in fact, Serbian Minister Lajiq in his announcement has confirmed that the agreement has been reached in the framework of negotiations between Euro-Asian Union countries, where Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are part of Serbia. The grouping in question began the upcoming summit in Belgrade Thursday, which will culminate with Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit on January 17th/Abcnea.