Filenews 22 March 2022 - by Andreas Pimpisis
Photo: The map shows existing and under consideration gas pipelines through Turkey to the EU.
Turkey has made a "shopping list" of what it wants to gain either during the Russian invasion or at the end of the Ukrainian crisis. Among the gains that Turkey wants to secure during this time are the construction of a gas pipeline from Israel and the reform of the UN Security Council in a way that gives it the status of a permanent member.
Europe's moves to de-dependence on Russian gas, in connection with the relaunch of Turkey's relations with Israel, gave Ankara the opportunity to bring the Turkish-Israeli pipeline back to the forefront. The Turkish newspaper, Milyet, brought back the issue that had been left behind for a long time due to the absence of dialogue between Israel and Turkey.
The Turkish newspaper under the headline "Israel's gas can be connected to THE TANAR, (the Anatolia pipeline carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan) by a 500-550 km long pipeline to be placed from the Mersin Sea to Eskişehir." According to the Turkish newspaper "with this infrastructure, it is possible to transport natural gas either from Edirne to Greece and from there to Italy and Europe, or from Bulgaria to Europe again".
The experts cited by the Turkish newspaper say that it does not take huge investments to realize the capabilities and the time it takes to implement the project is about 4 years. It adds, however, that "the implementation of these and similar projects depends on many factors: the mutual trust of countries, maritime jurisdictions, issues of recognition and conflicts of interest". "In the European energy market, it is not so difficult to guess which country will oppose projects that can be an alternative to Russia's detriment and, if necessary, to register its objection causing problems in other areas," Milyet comments.
Wants a permanent position
One of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's great visions is for Turkey to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. An objective that is promoted through the proposal for reforms in the United Nations Security Council. Turkey's position is that the current composition of the UNSC represents an older state of affairs and not today's world. And in today's order, Turkey has, according to the Erdogan narrative, a leading role.
According to the Anatoli agency (source PIO), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, that serious reforms are needed in the UN Security Council.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Japanese counterpart, Çavusoglu underlined that both the Ukraine-Russia war and international developments in the region have demonstrated that there is a need for immediate reforms to the international system and especially to the UN Security Council. "We have agreed together with Japan to act together on these issues," Çavusoglu said. Çavusoglu also said that in his meeting with his Japanese counterpart they exchanged views on developments in the Asia-Pacific region and briefed him on turkey's efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. Stressing that Turkey wants to improve its bilateral co-operation on various platforms, Çavusoglu reiterated his country's support for Japan's candidacy for the UN Security Council in 2023-2024.
