Daily Sabah: Russian-Turkish Cooperation on South Stream

Turkey is rapidly becoming a crossroads in 21st century energy transportation. As a net energy importing country, Turkey's fundamental goal in energy relations is to become an energy hub of Eurasia. Its leadership hopes to increase energy security by implementing current and forthcoming pipeline projects in and around the country. Its growing energy needs require a high risk and high gain strategy that also necessities an assertive foreign policy in its formidable region.

Turkey already undertook this risk when it signed the "contract of the century" with regard to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which was perceived as the first step toward its goal of becoming an energy hub in the center of the universe. The country still stands as a cornerstone in the Eurasian-Middle East and/or Afro-Eurasia energy corridor, which might help to materialize its strategic goals between East and West.

In this context, Turkey's booming economic and, most notably, increasing energy relations with Russia have recently come to the fore as a game-changing maneuver regarding the so-called "Great Game" in the Eurasian heartland. In spite of their essential divergences in regional-political issues and military conflicts like the Syrian regime, Russian annexation of Crimea and the Nagorno-Karabakh problem Turkey and Russia are deemed to be economic partners. Bilateral trade volume is around $32 billion with a goal of being increased to $100 billion as of 2020.

MORE