The National: Turkey woos Russia as EU hopes dim - by Thmas Seibert

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Turkey woos Russia as EU hopes dim - by Thmas Seibert

As the EU shows little interest in taking Turkey on board as a new member in the near future, Russia has emerged as a powerful new partner for Ankara, providing energy and trade deals and sending a growing number of holidaymakers to Turkey’s sunny coasts. The ever closer relations between Ankara and Moscow is a sign of weakened ties between Turkey and the EU, Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst at the Economic Policy Research Foundation, or Tepav, an Ankara-based think tank, said yesterday. “If things were better with the EU, Turkey would be part of the European approach. But because it is outside that approach, it plays more locally.” Nowhere is that trend more visible than in energy policy.

Note EU-Digest: the ultimate buyer of Russian energy supplies is the EU with its 500 million inhabitants. Turkey might be a player as a major "transfer station" of the Russian energy into the EU, but the the one paying the bills (the EU) for the energy from Russia will be the one calling the shots. Not Turkey.