Turkey eyes energy role with Russia
Turkey eyes energy role with Russia - by Sibel Utku Bila
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is to visit Ankara Thursday for talks expected to focus on energy cooperation amid a growing Turkish role in projects to carry gas and oil to Europe. "Cooperation in the field of energy will be a primary issue on the agenda," an aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Situated between Europe and the vast oil and gas fields of the Caspian Sea and the Middle East, Turkey has emerged as a hub for pipelines to supply the energy-hungry West. Hoping to attract Russian and Kazakh oil, Ankara is also promoting a pipeline from its Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast, which already serves as a terminal in conduits pumping oil from Azerbaijan and Iraq. Putin's energy agenda in Ankara is likely to include also a long-delayed project to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
Despite sometimes shaky political ties, economic exchange between the two countries has boomed since the fall of Communism: in 2008, their trade volume hit 37.8 billion dollars, making Russia Turkey's number one trading partner. Russia supplies about 60 percent of Turkey's gas imports, and more than a million Russian holiday-makers boost Turkey's vital tourism sector each year.
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