Turkey, Russia finish new gas pipeline
Ankara and Moscow have inaugurated a portion of a natural gas pipeline under the Black Sea while the latest Turkish news on murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi includes his refusal to send a message to his son.
ANKARA — Turkey and Russia marked the completion of a natural gas pipeline under the Black Sea with a short ceremony in Istanbul Monday attended by their presidents.
“TurkStream is a historic project and we put in a lot of effort to realize it,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said of the twin pipelines that run 930 kilometers (580 miles) from the Russian port of Anapa to the coastal village of Kiyikoy in northwest Turkey. When the onshore work is completed by the end of next year, the pipelines will deliver 31.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
At a time when US President Donald Trump is scolding European countries for their dependency on Russian energy, Turkey has no qualms about increasing its purchase of natural gas from its big neighbor to the north.
“Countries’ decisions on how to obtain natural gas according to their circumstances must be respected,” Erdogan said in a clear reference to Trump. “Pressure, which violates sovereign rights and prevents states from serving their citizens, will benefit no one.”
