Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday after talks in Baku with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev that the TANAP gas project could be completed before its original target, 2018.
Advertisement
The reason for this fact is that Russian Federation has not fulfilled the requirements of Turkey, Erdogan said, not mentioning the requirements of the country.
“The Russian sanctions against Turkey won’t knock our country down…Moscow should open diplomatic channels to resolve this crisis instead of imposing sanctions against Turkey”, Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu insisted Turkey did not know the nationality of the plane it downed inside Turkish air space.
He suggested for the first time, however, that the plane was brought down because Turkey could not “morally” allow the plane to trespass on Turkish territory before bombing Turkmen areas in Syria.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also told Russian news agency Tass that the Turkish Stream project had been suspended.
“The incident on the 24th of November… should not be confused with our fighting against our common enemy of Daesh, terrorism and should not be abused for political objectives”, Cavusoglu said in his address at the OSCE conference.
“So, we attach much importance to three mechanisms; Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia, Turkey-Azerbaijan-Iran and Turkey-Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan”, he added.
HURRIYET wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “threatened” Turkey when he said: “Sanctions will not be limited to a ban on tomatoes”.
Turkey imports 95 percent of its energy from overseas and meets 55 percent – or 27 billion cubic meters (bcm) – of its natural gas consumption and 30 percent of its oil needs from Russian Federation. According to Interfax, the embassy source also said that similar restrictions applied to foreign reporters in Russia, advising journalists to “contact the Russian Foreign Ministry on the matter”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday labelled as “immoral” Russian claims that his family was involved in alleged oil dealings with Islamic State jihadists.
Putin said the military action has proven the capability of Russia’s modernized military.
Advertisement
Negotiations over the pipeline also hit snags even before Turkey shot down the Russian jet. “Today, however, we are surprised by unfounded Russian economic embargo on Turkey”, he added.
