Turkey sees US resumption of oil, gas sanctions on Iran as wrong, destabilizing

A day after Washington reinstated sanctions on Iran, abandoning a 2015 deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday that Turkey finds the sanctions a step toward disturbing global stability

SINCE the announcement of the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran, Turkey has opposed the regime of unilateral sanctions as the country is one of the key customers for Iranian oil and gas, benefiting from geographical proximity, crude quality and favorable price differentials. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again reiterated Turkey’s opposition to the sanctions levied by the U.S. administration on the Iranian energy sector, describing it as a move to disrupt the global equilibrium. “U.S. sanctions on Iran are wrong. For us, they are steps aimed at unbalancing the world. They also go against international law and diplomacy. We don’t want to live in an imperialist world order,” Erdoğan told reporters after his address to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentary group in Ankara. “Our stance on sanctions has always been clear, especially in issues related to oil. We have always said this, we won’t abide by these sanctions,” Erdoğan said. Turkey imports nearly 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from Iran. According to the annual market report of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), Turkey imported 9.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran last year, which accounted for 16.74 percent of the country’s total gas imports.

TURKEY has become the biggest contributor to European air traffic, the country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (SHGM) announced yesterday.

Eamonn Brennan, director general of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), sent a letter to SHGM regarding Turkey’s contribution to Europe’s aviation incomes and decrease in flight delays in the country, the SHGM said.

Turkey’s air traffic rose 8.4 percent from April 1 to Sep. 30 - during the second and third quarter - compared with the same period in the last year, said a statement issued by the SHGM.

“Brennan said, in the same period, the Europe’s average air traffic increment was 3.6 percent,” according to the statement.

It noted, according to the Eurocontrol’s report, delays in air traffic flow management in Turkey was 79 percent in 2017’s second and third quarter, it dropped by 47.3 percent in the same period this year.

The percentage of delayed flights - delayed by more than 15 minutes - in Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport was 25 percent and 21 percent in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport, in the same period. “In the letter, it stressed that Europe’s average was 28 percent during the same quarters, Turkey has a much better performance than Europe,” the statement highlighted.