ANKARA —
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday blamed Europe’s energy crisis
on sanctions it imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine — a line taken
by the Kremlin itself.
اضافة اعلان
Erdogan has
maintained good working relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin while
trying to stay neutral in the conflict and supplying Ukraine with Turkish
weapons and combat drones.
He told
reporters before departing for a three-nation swing through the Balkans that
European nations were “harvesting what they sowed” by imposing economic
restrictions on Russia.
“Europe’s
attitude towards Mr Putin, its sanctions, brought Mr
Putin — willingly or not —
to the point of saying: ‘If you do this, I will do that,’” Erdogan said.
“He is using all
his means and weapons. Natural gas, unfortunately, is one of them.”
Erdogan’s
comments echo those expressed by the Kremlin this week.
Kremlin
spokesman
Dmitry Peskov on Monday blamed Russia’s halt of gas deliveries to
Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline on “sanctions that were imposed against
our country”.
Russia accounted
for nearly half of Turkey’s own natural gas purchases last year.
Turkey pledged
to slowly transition to paying for the Russian imports with rubles at a summit
between Erdogan and Putin in Sochi earlier this month.
Analysts believe
the deal will ensure that Russia will continue to supply Turkey with gas
through the TurkStream pipeline running under the Black Sea.
Erdogan said he
did not expect Turkey to experience any energy shortages this year.
“I think
Europe will have serious issues this winter,” Erdogan said. “We do not have such a
situation.”
The spike in
global energy prices caused by Russian supply disruptions has stoked an
economic crisis in Turkey that has seen annual inflation soar to 80 percent and
the lira plunge in value.
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