Is Merkel disturbed by the challenge of “Turkish Stream Project”?
Some experts believe German Prime Minister Angela MERKEL has adopted a hostile attitude towards TURKEY recently and this could be due to the prospective challenge imposed by the Turkish Stream Project to rival North Stream 2 project supposed to make Germany the natural gas center of Europe.”
According to same experts, Germany is announcing new anti-Turkish statements each every day. They remind for instance the most recent statement released by MERKEL yesterday who said “Our relations are very complex. I do not think we can meet with the Customs Union talks with Turkey in the coming months”.
Same energy experts also draw attention to the fact that relations began to deteriorate following a research made by Germany in November 2016. They think there was a visible change in the German policy after said research. They believe Germans think this research showed that the second North Stream project, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, could make this country Europe’s natural gas center. Immediately after the publication of the results of the research, the German Minister of Economy and Energy was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was obvious that with this change, the energy-driven period gained momentum in Germany’s foreign policy. “
Following said research, Germany grew serious concerns thinking the geographical advantage of Turkey was a major threat to Germany’s second North Stream project and became more uncomfortable with the idea of “Either we or Turkey will be the natural gas center of Europe”.
The critical point is if Germany sticks to its approach of “Either we or Turkey will be the natural gas center of Europe” and does not help avoid escalating the tension between the two allies, relations between two countries may incur deeper damage which would not be a favorable situation for either, with very strong mutual trade relations – not to forget millions of Turks living in Germany.
