Today's Zaman: Turkey Sees Major Threat from Possible Russian Gas Cut

Speculation of a Russian natural gas cut has sparked major concerns in Turkey as the country only has a 14-day storage supply, the Turkish media reported on Friday.

EU regulations require member countries to have a 45-day storage reserve of natural gas in the event of a supply cut, while during the winter months countries are expected to have a reserve that would last for at least 30 days. Turkey has not been able to increase the capacity of its natural gas storage facilities despite increasing its consumption in recent years, according to the report.

After downing a Russian jet that briefly flew into Turkish airspace on the Syrian border, a diplomatic crisis has arisen between Ankara and Moscow, the latter of which supplies Turkey with more than half of its natural gas. Relations had already soured between the two countries over Moscow's involvement in Syria, as Russian troops have been bombing rebel forces fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who is considered to be a close ally of Russia and a bitter enemy of Turkey. MORE