Türkiye most reliable way to supply gas to Europe: Putin

ASTANA

Türkiye has “become the most reliable route” to supply gas to Europe, and building a new pipeline in Turkish territory will allow for setting a stable market price, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 13 ahead of a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“[Türkiye is an] even more secure route than Europe. Thanks to your attitude, we are planning to use this route more intensely,” he said.

Some “terror groups” aimed to explode the TurkStream pipeline, Putin said, adding, “We were able to prevent it. It continues to work properly without a gas outage.”

Erdoğan and Putin met in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the Sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Moscow proposed Ankara construct an additional gas pipeline in Türkiye, Putin said.

“We have the intention to expand [the current] line and construct another gas pipeline. We intend to make Türkiye the biggest gas hub of the World,” he said.

The plan is also for European markets, of course, if they are interested in this project, he said, noting that this project will also serve to stabilize the prices of natural gas.

The hub would be “a platform not only for supplies but also for determining the price because this is a very important issue. Today, these prices are sky-high. We could easily regulate at a normal market level, without any political overtones,” he said.

Russia supplied about 40 percent of Europe’s gas before it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline caused a massive gas leak and took them out of service.

Before the explosions, Russia had cut off the parallel Nord Stream 1 pipeline at the center of an energy standoff with Europe. Russia has blamed technical problems for the stoppage, but European leaders call it an attempt to divide them over their support for Ukraine.

Putin also reiterated his complaint about the delivery of Ukrainian grain to rich countries rather than poor ones. “A small part of the grain still goes to the poorest countries. Countries that buy Ukrainian grain under the Istanbul agreement should be grateful to Erdoğan,” the Russian leader said.

Putin noted that the construction process for Akkuyu Power Plant in Türkiye’s southern Mersin province was underway as planned and they aim to supply the “first fuel” to the plant in May next year.

The project for the Akkuyu Power Plant began with a 2010 intergovernmental agreement and is set to be operational by 2025.

Erdoğan, for his part, congratulated Putin on his 70th birthday and expressed his will to meet with the Russian leader again in Samarkand, where a summit of the Organization of Turkic States will be hosted in November.

He emphasized that the development of Ro-Ro transportation for Russian ports, especially Novorossiysk, and the launch of RO-PAX voyages will create a multiplier effect in bilateral trade.

Erdoğan emphasized the opening of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant’s first turbine next year and a possible new deal for Russia’s construction of Türkiye’s second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop will create a stir in the world.

“The opening of Akkuyu’s first turbine in the first half of next year will make a different sound in the world. If a step can be taken regarding [nuclear power plant] Sinop, this will, of course, have a much different multiplier effect,” he stated.

Erdoğan said they also focused on the ongoing process of Ukrainian grain export to world markets, along with the transport of Russian grain and fertilizer to underdeveloped countries.

“Ankara and Moscow are determined to strengthen and maintain the Istanbul Consensus and to transport Russian grain and fertilizer to underdeveloped countries via Türkiye,” Erdoğan stated.

“While the steps that Türkiye and Russia will take in this process will disturb certain circles, they will also make less developed countries happy,” he said, noting that Ankara and Moscow can even come together in determining these countries.

On July 22, Türkiye, the U.N., Russia and Ukraine signed a deal with a duration of 120 days to reopen three Ukrainian ports for the export of Ukraine grain, which were stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war.