Mehmet Perinçek and Onur Sinan Güzaltan’s interview to Russian newspaper Izvestia.
Mehmet Perinçek and Onur Sinan Güzaltan’s interview to Russian newspaper Izvestia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Ukrainian army carried out an attack with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on a compressor station in the Kransnodar region that supplies natural gas to the TurkStream pipeline.
The statement shared that the 9 UAVs used in the attack were destroyed by air defense systems and that the pipeline continued to operate normally.
UWI authors Mehmet Perinçek and Onur Sinan Güzaltan evaluated the Ukrainian army’s drone attack on the TurkStream Natural Gas Pipeline for the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
Ukraine and the US’s agreement against Turkish Stream
Perinçek stated that the Ukraine attack was not surprising and evaluated the issue as follows: “This attack is not surprising, because it’s not the first attempt. Kyiv had tried to destroy the Turkish Stream before, there were other attempts. And not only that, but they also even officially announced that they wanted to interfere with the work of the Turkish Stream, they signed a memorandum with Washington 5-6 years ago. And the United States and Ukraine officially announced to cooperate against the Turkish Stream”.
He added that the project of the “Kyiv regime” was created artificially, the Ukrainian authorities not reflecting the will of its people. Thus, the interlocutor of the publication emphasized, this project is directed not only against Russia, but also against Türkiye, including against the background of American policy within the framework of the Middle East crisis.
“U.S. plans in Ukraine, U.S. plans in Syria, U.S. plans in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea – they are all connected. Therefore, the response to this attack [of the Armed Forces of Ukraine] can only be given in cooperation with Russia and other countries that also suffer from U.S. aggression,” the expert summed up.
Perinçek stressed that to ensure security in the Black Sea, Türkiye and Russia should work according to a common plan.
Ukraine’s TurkStream attack and Trump-Putin meeting
Güzaltan, on the other hand, drew attention to the fact that the attack took place during a period when Trump and Putin’s meeting was on the agenda and made the following assessment:
“I believe that the American “deep state” is behind these attacks, as well as the British side, and I am sure that this is a big attack on Turkish-Russian relations. They have already attacked Nord Stream to harm and disrupt Russian-European relations. And I think that now, they are trying to do the same against Turkish-Russian relations, so that Türkiye condemns Russia.”
In his opinion, the Turkish government understands that this provocation was
committed before the probable negotiations between the President-elect of the United States Donald Trump and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The expert admitted that Ankara would condemn the attack. “Now the energy problem is the number one problem in the world. And of course, Russian gas plays a very important role for Türkiye. In addition, these gas pipelines are also important for the European side. I mean, now that the passage of gas from Russia to Ukraine to Europe is blocked, Europe is suffering. Therefore, those who provoked this gas problem in Ukraine are trying to provoke the same issue between Türkiye and Russia. But the main target will be Europe,” Güzaltan summed up.