Turkey, Kazakhstan to be central in Eurasia: Davutoğlu

ASTANA – Anadolu Agency

AA photo

Turkey and Kazakhstan will be two central countries in Eurasia in the fields of energy, trade and transportation, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Feb. 6.

Davutoğlu met Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev during a two-day official visit to Kazakhstan to further develop relations in the fields of transportation, energy and trade.      

Speaking during a press conference in Astana, Davutoğlu said Turkey constituted a gate to the European Union for Kazakhstan while the latter was a gateway to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) for Turkey. 

“As soon as the Middle Corridor – a transportation network extending from the Caspian Sea through Turkey and Azerbaijan to Central Asia and China – becomes active, Turkey and Kazakhstan will be two central countries of Eurasia,” Davutoğlu said. 

Davutoğlu’s visit to Kazakhstan is the first since the Ankara-Moscow jet crisis. Tension between Moscow and Ankara has been high since Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian fighter jet in late November 2015 after it allegedly violated Turkey’s airspace.   

Russia imposed a series of economic sanctions after the incident, including restrictions on Turkish exports and limits on the activity of Turkish companies operating in Russia.