Despite the upcoming changes in the Turkish government, the talks on construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline haven’t stopped, according to the Minister of Energy of Russia, Alexander Novak, after his visit to Istanbul in early October.
Russia presented Turkey with an upgraded text of the intergovernmental agreement on the gas pipeline project, and consultations on the document will be held in the very near future. At the moment, the possibility of the construction of the two lines of the Turkish Stream (the overall capacity is 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually) is being considered. One of the lines will provide gas for the internal market of Turkey.
Ali Resul Uzul, chairman of the Centre for Strategic Studies of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, says that almost 60% of Turkey's needs in natural gas are provided by Russia: “The Turkish Stream project, which our presidents discussed in December 2014, should reach a turnover of 20 billion cubic meters of gas at the first stage. Today it was reported that the Turkish Stream will reduce its capacity by 50% and I want to say that these reports have appeared both in the Russian and Turkish press, and this is surprising, because there are no such plans between Russia and Turkey. We expect that it will work at full capacity.”
Uzul also noted that “from 1998 to 2015 the investment component of Turkish projects in Russia exceeded $10 billion. As for Russian investments, now we have reached a strategic level. As you know, Russia and Turkey have signed a bilateral intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the first Turkish nuclear power plant – ‘Akkuyu’. This is a revolutionary project. Turkey has never had nuclear power plants and for us it's really a very important milestone in the development of our energy component.”
The Turkish expert believes that “the Turkish and Russian peoples have known each other very well over the past few years. We actually have become one, we have very close cultural ties, strong educational and tourist relations. In the international arena, Turkey and Russia are actively cooperating on various global issues. The Black Sea Economic Council was created; and the Black Sea that unites us, really, is a very important area of cooperation in various fields. Turkey believes that the countries of the Black Sea region should actively cooperate to resolve all the problems of the region and try to seek common points of view on many of the world's problems.”
At the same time, Uzul says that, unfortunately, in recent years, both in Russia and in Turkey, religious radical directions have strengthened: “We should intensify our joint efforts directed at education to prevent the spread of radicalism between Russia and Turkey. Turkey and Russia have repeatedly stated the unity of positions with regard to the fight against the various international terrorist groups that are trying to operate in Russia and Turkey. We have repeatedly stated the unity of our position in the fight against international terrorism. In order to strengthen our bilateral relations, the dialogue between the two countries should be as frank and transparent as possible. If this sincerity and frankness of dialogue continue, we will be able to form a common view on many issues and achieve mutually beneficial solutions to many international issues.”
