Erdogan, Putin discuss energy projects over phone

By Ali Kemal Akan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday discussed two energy cooperation projects in a phone call, according to Turkish presidential sources.

They discussed TurkStream, a gas pipeline under construction from Russia to Turkey, and Akkuyu nuclear power plant, located in Turkey's southern Mersin province.

The first line of the TurkStream, which will send around 15.75 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Turkey was completed in April.

The second line with the same capacity as the first line will send gas to Europe through Turkey.

The Akkuyu nuclear power plant will boast four reactors, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, and will be built by the Russian state nuclear energy agency Rosatom.

Putin and Erdogan expressed their satisfaction on energy cooperation between the two countries, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

They also discussed bilateral relations and regional issues, and shared their views on the latest developments in Syria.

The sources added that the two leaders pointed that dialogue between guarantor countries of the Astana process and coalition partners would result in achieving a political solution in Syria.

Erdogan told Putin that civilians being targeted in Syria's Daraa is "worrying" and if the Bashar al-Assad regime advances toward Idlib in a similar way, the Astana agreement's essence would "totally" dissipate, the sources said.

Erdogan said the lack of negative developments regarding Idlib would encourage Syrian opposition's participation in the Astana meeting on July 30-31.

The two leaders also agreed to meet face-to-face at BRICS Summit in Johannesburg which will be held in the end of July, sources added.

Following peace talks held last year in Kazakh capital Astana, Daraa was designated a “de-escalation zone” in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.