Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to set up a natural gas hub in Turkey. The intention is that Europe can buy gas through this route, Erdogan told members of his AK party in the Turkish parliament.
Earlier this month, the Turkish and Russian presidents declared their willingness to cooperate more closely in the economic field. Turkey is a member of the Western military alliance NATO, but despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it also maintains good ties with the Kremlin. As a result, Erdogan regularly presents himself as a mediator in the conflict.
In 2020, Russia and Turkey opened the TurkStream gas pipeline, which runs from Russia through the Black Sea to Turkey. That pipeline transports some 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and is also a vital supply line of Russian gas to southern Europe.
An important northern gas pipeline between Russia and Europe, Nord Stream 1, has been completely shut down since this summer by the Russian state gas company Gazprom. A major leak occurred last month that rendered the pipeline to Germany useless, with strong evidence of sabotage. The adjacent Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was never put into operation, was also severely damaged by explosions.
