Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 8
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
The Turkish Stream project is frozen, but if Russia changes its position on Syria, it is possible that any progress will be reached in its implementation, Matthew Bryza, former deputy assistant of the US secretary of state for South Caucasus, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan and director of International Centre for Defense Studies in Tallinn, told Trend Oct. 8.
Bryza was commenting on the possibility of further development of the Turkish Stream project amid Turkey-Russia worsening relations because of the situation in Syria.
He said that while the economic and security interests of Russia and Turkey are
connected up to a point, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a big
miscalculation.
"Turkey would not react as strongly as it has against Russia's intervention in Syria's civil war on Syrian President Bashar al Assad's side," he said. In reality, Turkey is very angry. Turkey seems ready to take action if Russian military aircraft violate Turkish airspace again."
While commenting on Gazprom's possible reduction of gas supplies to Turkey amid Moscow-Ankara strained relations, Bryza stressed that Turkey is one of Gazprom's biggest customers.
The expert said that Russia and GAZPROM are in serious financial trouble, adding that Russia will not cut off its natural gas exports to Turkey.
The Turkish Stream project includes the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea. It was assumed that the gas pipeline would consist of four branches at 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas each. The gas of the first branch is completely designed for the Turkish market. The rest amount will be supplied to the Turkish-Greek border, where it is planned to create a gas hub. The construction was planned to begin in June, but the project is still being discussed.
Earlier, the Turkish foreign ministry spread the information that the Russian Air Force planes, taking part in military operations in Syria, violated Turkish airspace Oct. 3.
The Turkish Air Force planes were also involved with the aim of warning following this violation.
The Russian planes then left the Turkish airspace.
After the incident, the Russian ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry to clarify the situation.
Turkey will not allow the repeated violation of its airspace by the planes of the Russian Air Forces, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier.
The president stressed that any violation of the Turkish borders is a violation of NATO's borders.
"I think that Russia will not want to spoil relations with Turkey," President Erdogan said.
He also said that if Russia loses Turkey, it will lose a lot.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to the Federation Council for permission to use the Russian Armed Forces abroad. The Senate approved this request. The head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Ivanov told reporters that the decision concerns Syria and the matter rests in the operation of the Military Air Forces.
Russia sent military aircraft to Syria after Damascus's request. The Russian Military Forces are inflicting strikes on the positions of the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria.
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