Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on July 29 Moscow and
Ankara are discussing the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. "In general, we
are currently talking about the construction of two lines. The second
line is for southwestern European consumers which can also be laid under
the Black Sea and routed through Turkey,” Rossiya-24 quoted Novak as
saying.
On July 26, Russian news agencies quoted Turkish Economy Minister
Nihat Zeybekci as saying a political decision has been taken to continue
work on Turkish Stream and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey.
Zeybekci said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish
counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, would "give the final impetus” to
Turkish Stream in St Petersburg on August 9. The meeting will be the
first since Russia and Turkey began normalising relations following the
downing of a Russian warplane in November last year.
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek has reportedly said
Moscow and Ankara want to normalise relations as quickly as possible. In
June, Erdogan wrote to Putin in a bid to normalise relations and the
two leaders held a telephone conversation soon after that.
Chris Weafer, a senior adviser at Macro-Advisory in Moscow, told New
Europe on June 28 it is reasonable to assume that Putin was just as keen
to make peace with Turkey, as was Erdogan.
"President Putin wants to build a new southern route gas pipe into
Europe to compliment Nord Stream 1 and 2. South Stream has proven to be
too problematic because of Brussels and the Russians don’t seem keen to
want to engage with them on this issue any longer. Turkish Stream is the
only other alternative and I believe that Putin is very keen to build
that pipe before competition from other areas, such as LNG [liquefied
natural gas] or pipelines from Central Asia and Iran are more
available,” Weafer said.
"Building the pipe across Turkey would also have the added advantage
of blocking other competing pipes. Putin seems to take the view that
once you have a pipeline in place you then only ever argue over price;
you already have the customer locked in,” he said.
Turkish Stream would also be a big revenue earner for Turkey and
could possibly open up the possibility of building the delayed
Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which was planned to ease congestion in the
Bosporus, and also draw Turkey closer to improving trade and investment
in the Eurasia Economic Union, Weafer said.
Turning to other reasons Putin and Erdogan are keen to normalise
relations, Weafer noted that more than any other action since early
2014, the cancelling of holiday flights to Turkey caused a great deal of
unhappiness and resentment amongst Russian people. "It seems that the
25% food price inflation (winter 2014) or the ruble collapse were
accepted as collateral damage from the weak oil price and sanctions
while cancelling holidays is in an entirely different league. Russia
people really like Turkish holiday resorts for price, convenience and
service. This is election year after all,” Weafer said.
Moreover, Turkish companies are already big investors in Russia and
are very important in some sectors such as construction. "Russia also
managed to substitute a lot of food, which was blocked from Europe as a
result of sanctions from or via Turkey. So the Turkish dispute risked
inflation pressure in the autumn and winter or even some shortages
again,” Weafer said.
Finally, the Moscow-based expert said that it is clear that some sort
of lasting settlement in Syria is impossible without Turkey being
involved. "Given that Russia has no intention of fully withdrawing from
the region, e.g. it’s only Mediterranean naval base is in Syria, then
for even purely pragmatic reasons both governments needed to re-engage,”
Weafer said.
by Kostis Geropoulos,
Energy & Russian Affairs Editor, New Europe
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/moving-closer-together-putin-erdogan-push-turkish-stream/