“Additional flights cannot come to our airport despite high demand as there are no planes. All airlines put up as many aircraft as possible for flights to and from Russia. Now everyone is engaged in Russian flights, putting any planes that are found there, ”the manager of a major airport in Turkey told us in a recent conversation. We were impressed that despite the significant increase in traffic at this particular airport with a large flow of tourists and full aircraft, there were no more than 7 or 8 flights a day.

Turkey has become a hub for Russia, because, despite the decline in tourist traffic, there are 100 daily flights to Russia and the same number from Russia to Turkey. In August, this number reached 200 flights! Russians bypass sanctions through Istanbul and can travel to third countries, which is of great benefit to the Turkish economy.

This data is one of the data that shows that Turkey and Russia are becoming close allies and partners in the economic, energy and defense sectors, and this fact is already being observed with particular concern in the US and EU. Russia’s permission for parallel imports since March last year has turned Turkey into a “transit hub” through which the economic blockade can be circumvented. Cargoes from various embargoed countries are unloaded in Turkish ports, where they are reloaded onto ships bound for Russia, without any trace of their origin.

A similar bypass method is used in road transport. Many Russian companies have opened representative offices in Turkey and cooperate with Turkish companies by importing under Turkish “labels”. The number of companies with Russian capital established in Turkey also quadrupled in the first 8 months of 2022 compared to the same period last year. During this time, 729 companies with Russian capital were created in Turkey. Exports from Turkey to Russia also accelerated. According to the Turkish Statistical Service, over the first 9 months of this year, exports to Russia increased by 43% and exceeded $5 billion. On the other hand, imports from Russia to Turkey increased by about 125% and exceeded $45 billion.

Despite Western sanctions against Russia, Ankara plans to become an energy hub for Russian natural gas. Russian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Astana to discuss the possibility of building a storage facility in eastern Thrace, and this week the Turkish President announced a specific plan.

“Black” exports from Turkish ports and the thickening of bilateral economic relations with the outbreak of war.

“Turkey will become a hub for natural gas. At our last meeting, we agreed with Putin on this issue,” Erdogan said at a meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) group. “We will create a hub here with natural gas coming from Russia,” he added. “And in his own words: Putin has announced to the world that Europe can get its natural gas from Turkey,” Erdogan said, adding that fears are growing in Western countries about a solution to the energy crisis, but Turkey “does not have such a problem.”

A few days ago, Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhatsov announced the start of consultations between Turkey and Russia on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Sinop on the Black Sea coast. Erdogan, at a meeting with Putin, expressed this request to Turkey, and it seems that the procedures are moving quickly. Likhatsov noted that Sinop is a suitable site for the construction of a large nuclear power plant with four reactors.

“Given the future construction of a large nuclear power plant, we have started negotiations with our Turkish partners on the creation of technological alliances, the formation of Turkey’s investment policy and the energy market,” he said.

This will be the second nuclear power plant. An agreement on Turkey’s first Akuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin was signed in 2010 with Russia. The plant to be built in Akugiu will consist of four reactors and have an installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts. The first reactor is expected to be commissioned in 2023.