Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The European Games that kicked off on June 12 in Baku are already unforgettable not only for its grand opening ceremony, but also for the fact that Azerbaijan's capital, after the opening of the Games, hosted a meeting of the presidents of Turkey and Russia.
The meeting discussed the Syrian crisis and the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
So, the fate of the Russian project, the Turkish Stream, was decided exactly in Baku, and the meeting of the two presidents was far more important to the Russian side, rather than to the Turkish.
There are a number of reasons for this. One of them is that after the results of the Turkish parliamentary election came out, the Russian energy projects in this country found themselves in serious jeopardy.
So far nothing is known about when a coalition government will be formed in Turkey, and with what party this is going to happen. But a number of parties in Turkey have already advocated the revision of Russian energy projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
No matter how the meeting went on between the presidents of Russia and Turkey behind the closed doors in Baku, it is difficult to assert that Erdogan was able to give guarantees to the Russian leader on the Turkish Stream.
Because the Turkish Stream's fate is no longer in the hands of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), but lies in the hands of the party with which the AKP will form a coalition government.
Not only the project for construction of Akkuyu nuclear power plant, but also the Turkish Stream project is under threat. Although in order to protect Russian projects, Russian media says that allegedly, there are no problems in the implementation of Turkish Stream project, it is not true. First, there are no obligations between Ankara and Moscow on construction of Turkish Stream and Turkey's ambassador to Russia Umit Yardim also proved that in May.
Second, to date, Gazprom hasn't appealed to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey. Without the license of this authority, it is impossible to sell oil and gas, or transport hydrocarbons on this country's territory.
Moreover, earlier, Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning told Trend that Russian Gazprom hasn't appealed to them for an environmental impact assessment of the Turkish Stream project.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu