The Russian plane shot down by the Turkish air force Nov. 24 has brought President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin into serious confrontation. The economic warfare that began shortly afterward has been inflicting heavy damage on Turkey ever since.

At the outset, Turkish politicians seemed unconcerned about possible effects of the political crisis on the economy. Back then, while Mehmet Simsek, the deputy prime minister responsible for Turkey's economic policies, stated that Russian economic sanctions would not have any — or at least only limited — effect on the economy. Erdogan was trying to ignore any such economic effects by saying that nothing would happen, even if natural gas were to be cut, because Turkish citizens are used to coping with difficulties.

The sanctions caused major problems and bankruptcy in the tourism, construction, food and textile industries, and a chain reaction in banking sectors on the day the sanctions became effective Jan. 1 — this despite the fact that Putin had not yet played his strongest trump card: energy.

Turkey has reached the point of losing its economic relationship with Russia, which in 2013 was the fourth major importer of Turkish goods and was second in volume of trade volume with Turkey. In the last two years exports decreased by 50%, first because of Russian economic issues due to Western sanctions, and then in part because of Turkish-Russian tensions. Exports decreased to $3.5 billion while the volume of trade decreased by 25%.