- Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly wants to launch a new payment system between Turkey and Russia.
- This initiative by the Turkish Prez was due to the pressure from the U.S. which is against the use of Russian Mir Cards in Turkey.
Erdogan Looking for The Alternative of Russian Mir Card
According to the Turkish media reports, President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ordered their Ministers to develop the alternative of the Russian payment system Mir.
The reason for this step by Erdogan highlights the statement that comes from Washington, that includes the U.S. want to limit the use of Mir in Turkey. The Mir payment card is one of the best payment options for Russian vacationers in Turkey. However the corresponding Government officials including Erdogan are managing the discussion over this.
It must be noted that two private banks in Turkey, DenizBank and Isbank has suspended the use of Mir after Washington expanded its sanctions on Russia. On the other hand, the Turkish banks Halkbank, Vakifbank, and Ziraat are still using Mir payment cards.
What Did The Russian Official Say?
On September 22, 2022, Vladimir Komlev, the CEO of NSPK (MIR Payment System operator) clarified about the continuation of Mir bank cards in Turkey. He added “We are not considering the option of completely abandoning the use of Mir cards abroad… The level of concern and noise… is quite over the top.”
Additionally, Andrei Kostin, CEO of VTB Capital stated “The Americans have always said that sanctions apply to those areas of financial activity where the dollar is involved. The Mir card does not use the dollar and it does not fall under U.S. sanctions policy by any criteria. And the U.S. has not even imposed sanctions on Mir cards… but we see that countries friendly to us are abandoning this instrument that we were planning to develop.”
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/09/24/turkish-prez-erdogan-reportedly-hints-turkish-russian-payment-system/