“Turkey and Russia should maintain normal relations”

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 9 By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend: Russia and Turkey should maintain normal relations, and for this they have serious preconditions, says Taner Yildiz, the Turkish former minister of energy and natural resources. Turkish newspaper Haber7 quoted Yildiz as saying Oct. 9 that Russia and Turkey are implementing major energy projects, the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant being one of them. “This project will not be stopped against the backdrop of political misunderstandings between Moscow and Ankara,” said Yildiz. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his visit to Japan that other countries can build the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, if Russia refuses to. Erdogan’s remarks came days after his country’s air space was breached by Russian warplanes participating in operations in Syria. Turkey’s foreign ministry said Oct. 5 that the aircraft of Russia violated Turkish airspace on Oct. 3, following which Turkish warplanes carried out warning sorties. Afterwards, Russian warplanes left the Turkish airspace. Following the incident, Russian ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the country’s foreign ministry to clarify the situation. The Akkuyu Plant, to be built near Turkish city of Mersin, will be Turkey’s first-ever nuclear power plant. An intergovernmental agreement was signed in 2010 between Russia and Turkey to cooperate for its construction and operation. The Akkuyu Plant is projected to generate about 35 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Edited by SI --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu