Türkiye’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez said on Wednesday that it was too early to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a European gas hub in Türkiye but added that the issue should be discussed.
Speaking at the Russia Energy Week conference in Moscow, both Putin and Gazprom head Alexei Miller suggested creating a gas hub in Türkiye.
Putin said that Russia could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea to create the hub in Türkiye, or even use the one intact part of Nord Stream 2 to supply the European Union.
“We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Türkiye, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Türkiye,” Putin said.
Dönmez said it was the first time he had heard of the proposal, adding that it was too early to make an assessment.
“It is the first time we heard of the issue of supplying Europe through alternate routes, mentioned by President Putin in his speech. Therefore it is too early to make an assessment,” he said.
“These kinds of international projects need feasibility assessments ... commercial aspects need to be discussed. These are things that need to be discussed,” Dönmez added.
NATO member Türkiye has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia and has sought to balance ties during the conflict in Ukraine, rejecting Western sanctions on Moscow while criticizing Russia for what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine and supplying Kyiv with armed drones.
Along with the United Nations, Türkiye brokered the July deal to unlock Ukrainian grain exports from its Black Sea ports in what remains the only significant diplomatic breakthrough in the seven-month conflict.
Ankara’s relations with Russia are complex, with the two countries cooperating closely on energy supplies while being at odds over Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.
