ANKARA - Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Italy have seen further turns for the worse - following Mario Draghi calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "dictator" - after several business contracts between the two countries were cancelled, including the sale of ten helicopters, worth 70 million euros.

  Annual trade between the two countries is worth around 15 billion euros, and, what's more, is relatively balanced, with Italy exporting 7.7 billion euros worth of goods, and importing 7.2 billion. However, these numbers have been decreasing over the years, a fall of around 10 billion since 2017, and this latest turn of events will no doubt cause more damage to the trade relationship.

  Defence and armament deals are among the most lucrative, and the March saw the announcement, by Ismail Demir, the President of the Defence Industries, of a lucrative trade deal, including the helicopters, with Leonardo, the Italian aerospace and defence company. However, after Draghi's recent comments, these deals have been suspended.

  Several Turkish businesses and industries have cut off ties with Italian industries, however, as various Italian news outlets have made clear, trade with Italy is a much greater proportion of Turkish business than Turkish trade is in Italy.

  Turkish government officials have also turned against Italy, the Minister for Industry Mustafa Varank saying that Turkey won't "accept lessons in democracy from the country which invented fascism," adding, on the topic of immigration, that "Italy is leaving asylum seekers to die."

ol