Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership as both presidents took part virtually in a ceremony inaugurating Turkey’s first nuclear power plant about two weeks ahead of the country’s crucial elections.
Erdogan joined Thursday’s ceremony by video-link rather than travelling there due to health problems that forced him to cancel campaign rallies this week. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Erdogan was feeling better on Thursday.
The video appearance represented Erdogan’s effort to show health and vigour at one of the more vulnerable moments of his two-decade rule.
He was eager to project Turkey’s recovered grandeur under his rule.
“Our country has risen to the league of nations with nuclear power, albeit after a 60-year delay,” Erdogan said in prepared remarks.
The Russian leader did not hesitate to cast a strong vote of confidence in Erdogan.
He said that the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, Turkey’s first, was a “convincing example of how much you, Mr President Erdogan, are doing for your country, for the growth of its economy, for all Turkish citizens”.
“I want to say it straight: you know how to set ambitious goals and are confidently moving towards their implementation,” Putin said.
He stressed that Russia was one of the first countries to send rescue teams and medical personnel to Turkey in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in February.
“We are always ready to extend the hand of friendship to our Turkish partners,” Putin added.
Presidential and legislative elections, scheduled in Turkey on May 14, are seen as a potential turning point in how the country’s economy is managed as well as a test of a 2017 referendum that gave Erdogan wide powers and weakened parliament.
Polls have suggested either that he is running neck-and-neck or behind opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Turkey’s most momentous election in decades
Needing each other
Analysts say Erdogan and Putin need each other. Turkey provides Russia with a gateway to the West and helps Ankara stabilise its economy at a time when it faces currency woes.
“Paying Russia in roubles for some of the imported gas provides a relief for Turkish policy makers to keep the lira stabilised and prevent another wave of price hikes before next year’s elections,” said Bloomberg.
But Turkey has to toe a delicate line balancing its strong ties with Moscow and its membership in NATO as well as the alliance’s position in the Ukraine war.
Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom built the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and Thursday’s ceremony saw the first loading of nuclear fuel into the first power unit at the site in Turkey’s southern Mersin province.
“This is a flagship project,” Putin said. “It brings both mutual economic benefits and, of course, helps to strengthen the multi-faceted partnership between our two states.”
Putin described Akkuyu as “the largest nuclear construction project in the world” and noted that it would mean Turkey having to import less Russian natural gas in the future.
“But Turkey will enjoy the advantage of a country that has its own nuclear energy, and nuclear energy, as you know, is one of the cheapest,” he added.
Erdogan thanked Putin for his support on Akkuyu, adding: “We will take steps to build a second and a third nuclear power plant in Turkey as soon as possible.”
Turkey is a NATO member but Erdogan has managed to maintain cordial relations with Putin despite the war in Ukraine. Last year, Turkey helped to broker, along with the United Nations, a deal that allowed the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports.
In a phone call before the ceremony at Akkuyu, Erdogan and Putin also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Black Sea grain deal, the Turkish leader’s office said.
Putin, keen to build new markets for Russian hydrocarbons outside Europe, traditionally Moscow’s main customer, reiterated his call for Turkey to become a regional gas hub “to supply natural gas to interested foreign buyers at market prices”.
The $20 billion, 4,800 megawatt (MW) project at Akkuyu entails the construction of four reactors that will allow Turkey to join the small club of nations with civil nuclear energy.
“We plan to complete the physical launch (of the plant) next year… in order to be able to produce electricity on a steady basis from 2025, as we agreed,” Andrei Likhachev, head of Rosatom, said in Mersin before the ceremony.
Source: Arab Weekly
