| Goody. |
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
and Russia marked the official start of work to build Turkey's first nuclear power station on Tuesday, launching construction of the $20 billion Akkuyu plant in the southern province of Mersin.
The plant will be built by Russian state nuclear energy agency Rosatom and will be made up of four units each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan marked the start to construction, watching by video link from Ankara.
"When all four units go online, the plant will meet 10 percent of Turkey's energy needs," Erdogan said, adding that despite delays Turkey still planned to start generating power at the first unit in 2023.
Speaking at a later news conference with Putin, Erdogan said the cost of the project may exceed the planned $20 billion for the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, part of Erdogan's "2023 vision" marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and intended to reduce Turkey's dependence on energy imports.
Since Russia was awarded the contract in 2010, the project has been beset by delays.
Last month, sources familiar with the matter said Akkuyu was likely to miss its 2023 target start-up date, but Rosatom, which is looking for local partners to take a 49 percent stake in the project, said it is committed to the timetable.
The Interfax news agency cited the head of Rosatom saying the sale of the 49 percent stake was likely to be postponed from this year until 2019.
Erdogan told the news conference Turkey may cooperate with Russia on defence projects besides the S-400 missile defence system which Moscow has agreed to supply to Ankara. He did not give further details.
Turkey signed an agreement to buy the S-400 system in late December in a move which raised concern in the West because it cannot be integrated into NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
's military architecture.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will join Erdogan and Putin for a three-way summit on Syria in Ankara on Wednesday.