Donald Trump has urged NATO members to abandon Russian energy purchases in exchange for new sanctions on Moscow, but Turkey has refused, with Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar stating Ankara will continue sourcing gas from all available suppliers, including Russia.
The remarks came after Trump, during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, reportedly pressed Ankara to align with his proposal to halt Russian oil and gas imports as part of efforts to accelerate the Ukraine peace process. Bayraktar dismissed the pressure, emphasizing that stable energy supplies are vital for Turkey’s security.
“We cannot tell our citizens, ‘we have run out of gas.’ To ensure uninterrupted supply, we need access to these resources without discrimination,” Bayraktar said. He highlighted that Turkey will continue receiving Russian gas under existing agreements, citing the approaching winter and the need to secure as much supply as possible.
The minister also noted Turkey’s commitment to diversifying energy sources and expanding domestic production, stating, “The more sources we buy from, the safer it is.”
While Western nations have reduced Russian energy imports since the 2022 Ukraine conflict, the EU aims to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027 despite ongoing purchases by countries like Hungary and Slovakia. Turkey, a NATO member but non-EU state, has maintained energy imports from Russia and avoided joining Western sanctions.
Moscow has criticized Western restrictions on its energy exports as “illegal and self-defeating,” warning of higher costs for European nations. Russian officials also accused Trump’s push to steer NATO away from Russian supplies of prioritizing U.S. economic interests, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating, “The simplest way is to force the entire world to pay more for American oil and LNG.”
