Europe may get Russian gas from Turkey, Erdogan says, boosts defense spending

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The Turkish president also referred to Turkey’s defense budget, saying that it is increasing by 100 billion pounds due to the threats his country is receiving.

Turkey will also become a hub for natural gas, it can supply Europe, Turkish President Recep Tayyip said today, making announcements following the agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Speaking to members of his party’s parliamentary group, the AKP, in the Turkish parliament, Erdogan said: “Europe is anxiously searching for where to find gas. With God’s help, Turkey has no such problem. With the latest developments, Turkey will also become a hub for natural gas. In our last meeting with Mr. Putin we had the same views, so we will create a hub from gas coming from Russia. And as he himself said, ‘Europe can get gas from Turkey'”.

According to what SKAI’s correspondent in Constantinople, Manolis Kostidis, reports, Erdogan also referred to Turkey’s defense budget, saying that it is increasing by 100 billion pounds due to threats.

“Due to the growing threats in the world, but also in our region, we are increasing our defense budget for 2023 to a fairly high level, to 469 billion pounds (26 billion euros).”

Akar: Military equipment doesn’t help you

In his statements yesterday, the Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar issued new threats saying: “It should be known to all that the armament enthusiasm of Greece or the Greek Cypriot administration (s.a. Republic of Cyprus) and armament efforts will do nothing but increase the tension driving the situation in dead end”.

And he continued: “In order to have an effective and deterrent army, there must also be a defense industry, this is not a choice, it is an obligation. It’s not a luxury, it’s a must. With the work we are doing, my friends, with the help of God, the rate of national domestic production has reached the level of 80%.

» We have reached a level where we are exporting. The small arms and automatic weapons that you saw a little while ago (in the exercise), howitzers, mortars, drones, armed drones. We build the MİLGEM (national ship) our ships, our submarines. We also continue our work on the construction of our own fighter aircraft and tanks, after which we will also build the national aircraft and armored vehicles. In this matter we are determined and we continue to work intensively”.

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