Erdogan to Head Delegation to Moscow for Talks on Energy, Armenia
Asbarez
Jan 7th, 2010
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) and his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Ankara
ANKARA (Hetq)-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and up to
eight cabinet ministers will travel to Russia on January 12-13 for
talks involving greater Russian participation in an oil pipeline
linking Turkey’s southern and northern coasts and the process of
rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkish and Russian officials are expected to announce an agreement
during the visit allowing Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft and
Russian oil company Rosneft to have a share in the $2.5 billion
Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline, which will run between Turkey’s Black Sea
coast and the Mediterranean.
The talks are expected to be in the format of a joint cabinet meeting,
not unlike similar meetings held in earlier visits by Erdogan to Syria
and Iraq. In past remarks, Erdogan said his government wants to
establish a mechanism with Russia similar to the high-level strategic
councils created between Turkey and Syria and Turkey and Iraq last
year. An agreement to initiate a similar mechanism with Russia was
signed when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Ankara in
August. Erdogan’s visit to Moscow will be the first step in this
direction. Later, another meeting of the two countries’ cabinets is
planned to take place in Turkey.
Peace in the Caucasus will be one of the top issues on the agenda of
the Moscow visit. The joint cabinet meeting will also discuss the
formation of a Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Platform, a joint
mechanism proposed by Turkey following the Russian-Georgian War in
August 2008 to manage regional conflicts.
Analysts predict that the negotiations between Turkey and Armenia may
speed up following the Turkish-Russian talks.