OREANDA-NEWS  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won the presidential election in Turkey, will continue to strengthen relations with Russia and will interact with the United States on the basis of pragmatism, an expert from the Emirati Center for Advanced Studies "Mustaqbal", scientist Shadi Abdel Wahhab, told RIA Novosti.

"Relations between Turkey and Russia will remain strong, they will not be reviewed for a number of reasons. In particular, this is due to the fact that Erdogan won part of the votes on rhetoric against the United States, sought to achieve independence in military and civilian production," the expert noted. In addition, in his opinion, the statements of his rival in the elections about Russia's interference in the electoral process in Turkey "played into Erdogan's hands, thereby the opposition candidate made it clear that his position could threaten relations between the two countries, which any Turkish government is not interested in, given the depth of relations with Russia due to economic reasons and mutual interests in the energy sector".

"After Erdogan's victory, Turkish-Russian cooperation in strategic projects will only increase," the expert said. At the same time, Abdel Wahhab believes, "Turkey's relations with the United States during Erdogan's new presidential term will remain at the same level and will be built on the basis of pragmatism." In his opinion, Turkey will continue to adhere to neutrality on the Ukrainian conflict, including remaining an intermediary in the grain deal, especially given the failure of the West to fulfill its obligations towards Russia in this deal.