Both sides have realised that recent developments do not bode well for the future. The EU policy of escalating tension with Turkey, pursued for three years and reached a climax on the eve of the April 16 referendum, amounts to nothing!.. 

This policy led Turkey to question broadly its relations with the West and refrain from making concessions, while Europe made a cost-benefit analysis to calculate political and economic risks if ties with Turkey were severed. 

We went through a similar path observed in Turkish-Russian relations… Moscow, employing tough sanctions against Turkey following the taking down a Russian aircraft in line with a provocative plan unseen in the last 70 years, had arrived at the conclusion that losing Turkey for good would have had severe repercussions.  

Main reasons behind the decisive steps for a rapprochement with Turkey were halted economic cooperation, dysfunctional Black Sea-based common security framework, Russian tourists annoyed with restrictions of travel to Antalya and inability of Russian consumers to supply Turkish tomatoes. 

Simultaneously, Turkey understood that tension with Russia betrayed its own geo-strategy. For this reason, Erdoğan-Putin duo meet almost every month in order to forestall future misunderstandings.

The same situation also applies to Turkish-EU relations.