Turkey, Turkmenistan inch closer to sending natural gas to Europe

Turkey and Turkmenistan have inched closer to realizing a project aimed at carrying natural gas to Europe after Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov’s visit to Ankara earlier this week. 

Meredov met with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on Tuesday to discuss bilateral ties between the two Turkic countries, including energy cooperation and increasing mutual trade volume to $5 billion from $2.5 billion currently, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. 

A change in Europe’s energy landscape?

The visit came as efforts are speeding up to carry Turkmenistan gas to Europe via Turkey amid a Western push to decrease Europe’s dependence on Russian gas in the face of the Ukraine war. Turkmen gas can contribute to the European energy landscape.