Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backs the Kremlin’s idea of creating an international gas hub in Turkey and wants his government to quickly present implementation plans, Turkish media reported Friday.
“This will be an international distribution centre,” Erdogan told reporters on board his return flight from talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan.
Just a few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow could increase the capacity of its gas exports to Turkey, making the country on the Bosporus a hub for gas supplies to Europe. A gas hub could be created in Turkey, through which Russian gas could then be exported to European consumers.
There is already the TurkStream pipeline, which carries the Russian raw material through the Black Sea and further via Turkey to Hungary. The route, which consists of two strands, delivers gas from Russia to Turkey as well as to southern and south-eastern Europe.
Accordingly, Erdoğan supports Moscow’s idea of building an international gas hub in Turkey. As the AFP report goes on to say, the Turkish President called on the government in Ankara to present implementation plans as soon as possible. The news agency relies on reports from the Turkish media. On the return flight from talks with his Russian counterpart Putin in Kazakhstan, Erdoğan told reporters:
“This will be an international distribution center.”
#BREAKING Erdogan tells government to start work on Russian gas hub pic.twitter.com/yi5HtDzsQi
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 14, 2022