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Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 19
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Russia is a strategic, economic and political ally of Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of the Turkish Stream's offshore section in Istanbul on Nov. 19, Turkish media reported.
Erdogan noted that Turkey’s relations with Russia were not established on any other parties' order and these relations will not be damaged because of other forces.
Erdogan stressed that relations between Turkey and Russia will develop in all sectors.
"Today, Ankara and Moscow are implementing such important projects as the Turkish Stream and the construction of Akkuyu NPP," Erdogan said.
Today, the opening ceremony of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, with the participation of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, took place in Istanbul.
The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Fatih Donmez and the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.
Russia's Gazprom began construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in May 2017. The section runs along the bottom of the Black Sea to the Turkish coast. Its length is 930 kilometers. Further, the land transit (second) branch with the length of 180 kilometers will be laid to Turkey's borders with neighboring countries.
The first branch is designed for the Turkish market, while the second for gas supply to the countries of Southern and Southeastern Europe. The capacity of each branch is 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Gas supply is planned to start at the end of 2019.
In late May 2018, Gazprom and the Turkish government signed a protocol on the land section of the transit branch of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline to supply Russian gas to European consumers.
The construction of the offshore section of the gas pipeline was carried out by South Stream Transport B.V.
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