Why Putin Wants to Make Turkey an Energy Center?

What do you think? Do you think it would be in the interest of our strategic ally, the United States, for Turkey to become an energy supply center? Let us say it without any comment. Make no mistake, it would not. Since the beginning, when the Mediterranean was a Turkish lake and the Turks paid to enter the Western Forges, the West, and therefore the US, has never liked the Turks. As the late Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık, the great historian, points out below, for the following reason: 

"Let us not be mistaken, Turkey, which is strategically located in the most delicate region of the world, is a lonely country among the nations of the world, and has been and is the target of an unrelenting enmity from history. This is the destiny left to us by history." (1)

And on the other hand, how should we evaluate Putin? These challenges voiced by Putin are not just words spoken in a flat voice. At first glance, it is immediately apparent that they are extremely well thought out, well calculated, well studied, well worked out, and in other words, finalized. So? The point is this: In the US-RF energy war, Putin has put forward a comprehensive study that could perhaps lead to the fracturing of NATO by taking Turkey along with him. What has been done is, as the old saying goes, a work of "all things to all men and none to all women". This idiom, so to speak, is an administrative principle that was handed down to the Ottoman Empire from the Roman Empire, and its Latin equivalent is 'omni et solis definitum'. In short, it means to present the issue in full, neither more nor less. It means bringing together all the qualities that the subject should have and excluding others that it does not have, which is exactly what Putin has done. It is worth recalling the Russian Energy Week 2022 in Moscow. What did he say? RF President Vladimir Putin? That they wanted to turn Turkey into an energy hub and that they could supply natural gas to Europe through Turkey. In this way, the Western public learned that in the near future Turkey could become the largest natural gas hub in Europe. In my opinion, it would be useful to recall that speech once again. If you translate Putin's challenges to Western multinationals verbatim, the situation is already quite clear. It is also noteworthy that he also suggested that they could act together with China: (2) 

"We do not plan to work with Western companies until 2025. Local production will continue. 80% manufacturing in this sector belongs to us. The stupidity of Western companies was to challenge us. The Russian market is now closed to them! They are finished. The gas (Natural Gas) we produce will definitely be sold! World markets will now turn to the TURKISH STREAM PROJECT. We will only give gas to TURKEY. I fully support the TURKISH STREAM PROJECT. I will transfer 14 billion cubic meters of gas to the 'Blue Marmara Stream'. Let the Westerners think about it now! I will transport all the gas I have from the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. If the West wants something, now their interlocutor is "TURKEY". Whoever wants gas will go and buy it from Turkey! Turkey will be the biggest natural gas center in Europe. No problem for me. We will see it all this winter! For deliveries and payments, I don't recognize any international currency. We will be paid in our own currency. In RUBLE. China, which will help with transportation, will be paid in Yuhan. Whoever wants gas from me will pay in RUBLES!!!.That's it."

By the way, it should be noted that Putin was not in such a superior attitude when he chose Turkey as an energy supply center, on the contrary, he was in a positive attitude due to Turkey's acceptance of his proposal. In other words, Putin's proposal was not presented to Turkey on a golden platter. This is the result of Turkey's Ankara-centered decisions and its wise stance. This is a success, and success has never been and is never presented on a golden platter. 

One of the most important parameters of the image drawn by the Republic of Turkey is that 8.7% (12 million) of Russia's population is made up of various Turkic communities.  Of this population, 2/3 (8 million) live in the Idyl-Ural region, 1/6 (2 million) in Siberia and the Far East, and 1/7 in the Caucasus and the Lower Idyll region. According to the data of the Russian State Statistics Committee (Goskomstat), there are 40 different Turkic communities in Russia. Of the 21 autonomous republics in the RF, 7 (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Saha (Yakutia), Tuva, Khakassia and Altai republics, which participated in the Turkic Council meetings with Putin's permission) were created on behalf of some Turkic communities. Two joint republics (Karachay-Cherkess and Kabardino-Balkarian) were established with Circassian communities. (3)

Moreover, there are some disturbances in the autonomous structures in the Caucasus and Siberia within its borders that make it necessary for the RF to act together with Turkey. As you know, the entire Russian population is very distant from the war in Ukraine and even expresses its concern and anxiety about the war.  It is very clear that the departure of over a million Russian citizens due to the partial mobilization has also been very demoralizing. To put it more accurately, due to the fact that men of Russian origin are fleeing the mobilization in order not to get involved in the war, this time the Putin Administration is forced to recruit soldiers from the Caucasus and Siberia from Russian citizens of Turkish Muslim origin. Russian nationals who become soldiers earn US$ 3,000 a month, while in Siberia and the Caucasus these salaries are as low as US$ 200-300. Partial aid to the families of those killed and wounded in the war and sending supplies during Ramadan no longer save the day. This situation has indeed started to be voiced on social media. For example, speaking at the Caucasus Foundation's online conference "The Caucasus after the Mobilization" on October 7, 2022, Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Ahmed Zakayev raised his voice against the RF leadership on the issue of recruitment and called on Ukraine not to go to war. (4)

"This is an opportunity given to us by our Lord. This opportunity to create a free Caucasian state may never come again. No one should go to Ukraine to fight on the Russian side. On the contrary, we should support Ukraine. We should also fight to establish a free Caucasian state." (4) 

The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Chechnya (Noxchiychö) adopted on November 25, 1990 by the National Congress of the Chechen People led by Jahar Dudayev on the basis of the right of the Chechen people to self-determination and the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was declared after the collapse of the USSR on March 12, 1992. (5) However, RF was one of the first places to intervene in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 1999-2000. After the bloody war in which Ukrainian soldiers were also involved in the intervening RF Army, the region was annexed to the Russian Federation as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Empowered by the call of Prime Minister Akhmad Zakayev, the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, with the vote of 287 deputies, approved on October 12, 2022 a draft resolution "On the recognition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as the territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and condemnation of the genocide of the Chechen people." (6) 

The note attached to the draft resolution reads: "The Parliament of Ukraine supports the Chechen people's desire for independence. It also condemns Moscow's international crimes against the Chechen people, including genocide". It is the recognition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as "temporarily occupied by Russia" that will anger and even infuriate Putin. (6) 

Now let's take a look at the US front. Michael Rubin, one of the most famous Washington "hawks" in the US Democratic Party and a frequent visitor to Turkey through FETÖ before the July 15, 2016 FETO coup, openly challenged Turkey in his October 3, 2022 article in National Interest titled "The US should blow up the Turkish Stream as it did with Nord Stream 1 and 2." (7) 

The article was also published on the Athen News website. Undoubtedly, Michael Rubin has been helping to shape the foreign policy of the Democratic Party for many years, as well as penetrating the upper echelons of the US administration through his links to the National Interest website, which has direct access to US decision-makers and US intelligence services. Rubin openly admits one important issue in this article. First of all, he tacitly admits that the US played an active role in the sabotage of the Nord Stream -1 Project and openly admits that it played an important role in the abandonment of the Nord Stream -2 Project. This being the case, Rubin criticizes the fact that shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration also canceled the EastMed pipeline project that Trump had committed to, ostensibly on the grounds that the State Department deemed it uneconomical. Rubin also takes special care to draw public attention to the fact that Turkey, which boasts that it will double its revenues with the transit of gas and oil to Europe, ironically plans to do so by laundering Russian hydrocarbon investments, supporting the Azerbaijani dictatorship and strengthening Iran. With this important article, Michael Rubin somehow not only keeps the Biden administration in line, but also does not forget to adjust it.

The US relations with the SCGA are also mentioned in Rubin's article as follows:

"As Exxon-Mobil continues to find significant gas reserves offshore Cyprus, the US State Department's efforts to give Turkey a say in Cypriot gas are counterproductive for two reasons. First, it legitimizes Turkey's maritime claims and illegal occupation of northern Cyprus. Second, it encourages continued irredentism against Greece, signaling that there is more to persistence in illegal land grabs than the facts." (7)

This is a clear statement, which is tantamount to Turkey being shown a baseball bat from Washington, rather than from under a bushel. Since the establishment of the Government of the Turkish Grand National Assembly during the period of the National Struggle, the Republic of Turkey has fought and continues to fight all its battles on the basis of law. The Turkish Peace Forces are on the island of Cyprus to protect their compatriots in accordance with the provisions of the Zurich Treaty of Guarantee of February 11, 1959. It is legal. Turkey's presence on the island is not irredentism like Nazi Germany's claims over Alsace-Loren, Argentina's claims over the Falkland Islands and Greece's claims over Northern Macedonia. As is well known, irredentism is the idea of including within the borders of the motherland the lands inhabited by the people who were previously outside the motherland within its own geographical borders, showing unity in terms of language, traditions, customs and various cultural values. Turkey has never embarked on such adventurous adventures, but they have always been labeled as such. 

Turkey's concern is that the bloodshed should stop and peace and tranquility should prevail in the world. However, it seems that the deaths of civilians in Ukraine, leaving them homeless, without homes, without light, and most importantly, without heat - in other words, the destruction of Ukraine - does not worry or concern the ruling powers of wild capitalism represented by the EU(D). On the contrary, they make it clear that they are trying to continue their fight for dominance against the RF to the last bullet in their war over Ukraine. The Biden administration dreams of finishing Putin on the territory of Ukraine to the last drop of his power. It is clear, dear readers, that the US can use this opportunity to the fullest through the bloodshed of the Ukrainian peoples and continue its efforts to set a new course for the world without slowing down, and this can be felt all over the globe. 

Footnotes:

(1) https://bilgiveguc.blogspot.com/2015/01/bati-turkleri-neden-sevmez.html

(2) Emre Gürkan Abay, Rusya Devlet Başkanı Putin: Rusya kışın dahil Avrupa’ya enerji sevkiyatına hazır, top onların sahasında, Anadolu Ajansı, 12.10.2022; https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/rusya-devlet-baskani-putin-rusya-kisin-dahil-avrupa-ya-enerji-sevkiyatina-hazir-top-onlarin-sahasinda/27094707Erişim Tarihi 16.10.2022/  

(3) Ali Yiğit, Rusya Federasyonu’nda Yaşayan Türk Topluluklarının Anadillerini Kullanma Oranlarındaki Bölgesel Farklılıklar, e-Journal of New World Sciences Academy NWSA-Nature Sciences, 4A0047, 7, (2), pp. 16-34; https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/111990/Erişim Tarihi 23.10.2022/

(4) https://qha.com.tr/haberler/politika/cecen-lider-zakayev-den-kafkas-halkina-cagri-ukrayna-destek-vermeliyiz/448241/Erişim Tarihi 23.10.2022/

(5) https://www.yeniakit.com.tr/haber/putin-kuplere-binecek-ukrayna-cecenistanin-bagimsizligini-resmen-1700189.html/Erişim Tarihi 23.10.2022/

(6) Meiramgul Kussainova,   Ukrayna, İçkerya Çeçen Cumhuriyeti'ni "Rusya tarafından geçici olarak işgal edilmiş" tanıdı, Anadolu Ajansı, 18.10.2022; https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/ukrayna-ickerya-cecen-cumhuriyetini-rusya-tarafindan-gecici-olarak-isgal-edilmis-tanidi/2714728/ Erişim Tarihi 23.10.2022/

(7) M. Rubin,  “The US should blow up the Turkish Stream just like they did with Nord Stream 1 and 2”, Athen News,  October 3, 2022; https://en.rua.gr/2022/10/03/m-rubin-the-us-should-blow-up-the-turkish-stream-just-like-they-did-with-nord-stream-1-and-2/Erişim Tarihi 23.10.2022/