site.btaBalkan Countries Hope Erdogan Will Ask Putin not to Stop Gas in Winter

Balkan countries have turned to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ask on their behalf Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to halt gas supplies over the coming winter, Turkish news website Son Dakika reports. The information was released by Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci, who accompanied President Erdogan during his visit to three Balkan countries last week.

Western countries have consistently announced sanctions against Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 and has been waging this war for months. In response to the ongoing sanctions, Putin has halted natural gas supplies to European countries, the website reminds.

Kirisci was speaking at an event to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the Sakarya victory held yesterday in Polatli, Ankara Province.

The Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister said that during their visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia last week, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the three countries, as well as the attending ministers asked Erdogan to talk to Putin during the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this week [September 15-16], and ask him and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan not to reduce the liquid fuels and gas they supply during the winter season.

President Erdogan toured Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia on September 6, 7 and 8 at the invitation of his counterparts. After the official visits, Erdogan said that they were made at a critical period in terms of regional developments.