President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said he and Vladimir Putin had instructed relevant energy authorities to carry out joint technical studies on the Russian leader’s proposal to set up a potential gas supply center in Türkiye.
Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas via the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Türkiye, touting the country as the best route for redirecting gas supplies to the European Union after the Nord Stream pipeline leaks.
Erdoğan said both countries would immediately start work on Putin’s proposal to turn Türkiye into a new supply "hub" and that there would be "no waiting."
"Together with Mr. Putin, we have instructed our Energy and Natural Resources Ministry and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together," the president told reporters onboard his return flight from a regional summit in Kazakhstan, where he met with the Russian leader.
It marked the Turkish leader’s first statement on the Russian proposal.
Erdoğan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for the potential gas distribution center, adding that Türkiye’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.
"They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution center there," he said.
At the meeting in Astana on Thursday, Putin said Türkiye could act as a "gas hub," having already suggested on Wednesday that Russia could reroute supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines.
"We have a national distribution center, but of course, now this will be an international distribution center," Erdoğan told reporters. "There is no such thing as waiting here."
An investigation into the incidents is underway. Russia called it an "act of international terrorism," pointing the finger at the West, while the European Union called it a "sabotage."
Both pipelines, stretching more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) under the sea, were idle at the time of the ruptures.
Russia is now looking to redirect supplies away from the Nord Stream pipelines and Putin said Türkiye offered the most reliable route to deliver gas to the European Union, and the proposed platform would allow prices to be set without politics.
Erdoğan did not respond in the televised portion of their meeting, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA as saying both leaders had ordered a rapid and detailed examination of the idea.
Russia supplied about 40% of Europe's gas before its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but had cut flows sharply even before the explosions, blaming technical problems that it said were the result of Western sanctions.
European governments rejected that explanation, accusing Moscow of using energy as a geopolitical weapon.
The impact of steep cuts in supplies from Russia has been felt across the 27-nation EU and beyond, with gas prices almost 90% higher than a year ago and fears of shortages over the coming winter.
Putin said that increased cooperation on supplies with Türkiye could also help to regulate prices. He told Erdoğan that the hub would be "a platform not only for supplies, but also for determining the price, because this is a very important issue."
"Today, these prices are sky-high," he said. "We could easily regulate (them) at a normal market level, without any political overtones."
Putin this week said Russia had thwarted a planned attack against one of the sections of the TurkStream pipeline, without providing evidence or details.
Asked to comment on the allegations, Erdoğan said Türkiye was taking every step necessary to secure the pipeline.
"We are quickly establishing a security net" for the new gas distribution center project, he noted.
Carrying natural gas from Russia to Türkiye and further into Europe, the TurkStream was formally launched in January 2020.
The pipeline, which allows Moscow to bypass Ukraine as a transit route to Europe, carries Russian gas to Southern Europe through the Black Sea and Türkiye.
It has an annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) and consists of two 930-kilometer offshore lines and two separate onshore lines that are 142 and 70 kilometers long.
The first line with a capacity of 15.75 bcm is designated for supplies to Türkiye’s domestic customers. The downlink to Türkiye carries gas to several European countries, including Serbia and Hungary.