Approaching the Year’s End

TURKEY – A Russian based natural gas crisis made its imprint on the final days of last year and the first days of this year. As you will remember, this crisis began with the shut-down of natural gas Russia was supplying to the Ukraine; the crisis affected not only the Ukraine, but Europe and Turkey as well.

The crisis did not last too long, but it led to lasting results. In particular, at the end of the crisis Europe began to ask itself how much Russia could be trusted. Within this framework, it began an energy security debate and search that is still continuing today.

As we approach the end of the year, there will not be a similar energy crisis, because Russia has taken its own lesson from the crisis. At any rate, because it has come to an agreement with the Ukraine, there is no possibility of a crisis emerging. However, it is obvious from now that at the end of this year and the beginning of next year there will be other issues related to natural gas and these will lead to other problems nearby in the region.

The first issue that comes to mind is our neighbor Georgia