Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, suggested transporting natural gas to southern Europe via Turkey after the Nord Stream project nearly completely disrupted Russian supply.
The concept immediately alarmed major European nations, including France, whose administration stated that it made “no logic.”
Through the TurkStream pipeline that runs beneath the Black Sea, Russia already provides gas to Turkey.
Erdogan stated that the new distribution centre will probably be built in Thrace, a northwest province close to Bulgaria, on his trip home from meetings with Putin in Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Erdogan told reporters on his plane, “We have a national distribution centre, but obviously now this will be a worldwide distribution centre.
“This issue won’t be delayed in any way.”
Since the start of the Russian conflict, gas prices have soared, and Europe has had a difficult time locating alternate energy sources as Russia choked deliveries in reaction to Western sanctions.
The most recent increase followed last month’s explosions that wrecked both sections of Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline to Germany.
Putin claimed this week that Russia had prevented a planned attack on the TurkStream pipeline without offering any supporting information.
Erdogan declared that “we are swiftly constructing a security net” for the new gas distribution centre project.
