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Do not have a completely conflict-free relationship: the heads of state Erdoğan and Putin
Photo: ALEXANDR DEMYANCHUK/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have apparently defused the smoldering conflict over the billion-euro construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
An agreement has been reached, says Erdoğan on the sidelines of the meeting of the SCO, a security alliance led by China and Russia.
Akkuyu is a nuclear power plant that is currently being built on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
The company Rosatom, a Russian state company, is in charge of this.
The value of the project: more than 20 billion dollars.
In the past few weeks, there had been violent arguments about the construction site: According to Turkish media reports, Rosatom had withdrawn orders from a Turkish construction company.
This protested against the procedure, the construction work was partially stopped.
Rumors circulated that 7,000 Turkish construction workers would lose their jobs.
A representative of the Turkish opposition then spread speculation on Twitter that Russia even wanted to station its own military at the facility and made serious allegations against the Turkish ruling party: "The AKP handed Akkuyu over to the Russians," tweeted Alpay Antmen.
Turkey has not imposed any sanctions
Now the conflict between Rosatom and the Turkish sub-contractor has apparently been settled.
According to a report by the "Bloomberg" news agency, the Turkish company is again taking over the construction work.
"Bloomberg" refers to the statements of an unnamed Turkish official.
In Russia, the Interfax news agency reported that "all issues related to the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant have been resolved."
The first of a total of four reactor blocks is actually supposed to go online as early as next year.
Turkey has so far been heavily dependent on energy imports - and is currently suffering from extremely high gas prices, similar to Europe.
Although the country is a NATO member, the Turkish government has not joined the sanctions against Russia.
Most recently, President Erdoğan said he wanted Russia to grant a discount on gas supplies.
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