Hurriyet: Turkey should be cautious in gas deal with Russia
It is Turkey’s every right as a sovereign country to negotiate with any country in order to meet its needs, especially when it’s about energy sources, at a compatible price. However, when it comes to inking such a major deal with Russia, Turkey should eventually cogitate on its regional and global consequences. Here are some reasons:
Turkey’s energy policy: Turkey’s entry into global energy games dates back to the early 1990s, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the birth of independent countries sitting on major hydrocarbon reserves. Since then, Turkey’s short term policy was to become the main route for the transportation of Caspian and Middle Eastern natural gas and oil and its mid-term and long-term policy was to turn into an energy hub with making its Ceyhan port an alternative to Rotterdam. The core of this policy was to be able to attract Caspian countries like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, as well as Iran and Iraq, to prefer Turkey as their main route, obviously competing against Russia. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas lines were two important achievements to this end. Now, entering into cooperation with Russia for carrying its natural gas to Europe through its soil could be understood as an important deviation from its two-decade policy.