Last week the head of Russia's Gazprom, Alexei Miller, declared: "South Stream is closed. ‘Turkish Stream' is the sole route.

There are no other options.” While he made it sound like a fait accompli, this is far from the case as Turkey's leadership has for once kept its lips buttoned, failing to confirm or refute Miller's statement.

After years of “blood, sweat and tears” trying to get South Stream up and running, and despite having signed intergovernmental agreements with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, Russia finally threw in the towel in December last year, fed up with battling prohibitive EU legislation -- the Third Energy Package -- requiring infrastructure to be open to third parties. Instead of laying a pipeline across the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Gazprom plans to transport gas to a hub near the Turkey-Greece border. Despite the fact that Turkey is an EU candidate country, the energy chapter has been blocked by Cyprus. Hence, through the shortsightedness of a member state, Turkey's energy legislation remains its own business.