Turkey, on the march!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 12:06AM 
You can almost hear Ed Herlihy narrating a 1940s newsreel WRT Turkey's busy diplomacy, deal-making, etc. This is a rising great power on the make.
Several energy agreements inked in latest Erdogan-Medvedev meet, where the Russian president lauds the "full-scale strategic partnership."
Hmm. Be nice to have one of those with Turkey.
Results include visa-free travel, Turkey's first nuclear power plant (take note) and an oil pipeline construction-boosting accord. Trade is pledged to increase 3-fold to $100B.
Seems possible enough, given recent growth.
The pipeline deal is a tricky one: Turkey wants fewer-to-no oil tankers in the Bosphorus (which I got to cruise last year with the head of the Turkish navy), and it's easy to see why--just too narrow and too winding.
Yes, the two are competitive over who gets to become the bigger natural gas hub (Russia has a competing pipeline--South Stream to Turkey's Nabucco), but they also share a lot of frustration with the EU.
So it seems that Russia relented some on oil pipelines in order to get the nuclear power plant deal signed.
Reader Comments