ANKARA — Three days before Turkey’s presidential runoff, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu gave a television interview that clarified his foreign policy instincts, and may have further narrowed his already difficult path to defeating incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 28.
Speaking on the Babala TV YouTube channel, Kılıçdaroğlu warned that the government’s plan to build a regional natural gas hub with Russia would deepen Ankara’s energy dependence on Moscow to an untenable degree. Turkey relies on Russia for 30 to 40 per cent of its gas, he said. If the hub project goes ahead, that figure would climb to 70 or 80 per cent.
“It’s surrender, so we’re going to lose,” Kılıçdaroğlu said plainly, using language that cut against the Erdoğan government’s framing of the project as a geopolitical prize.
The candidate said he was not opposed to strong Turkish-Russian economic ties. “I am for good relations with Moscow, especially in the petrochemical and other industries,” he told the interviewer. “However, I object to Turkey’s dependence on Russia for energy.” His proposed alternative was to trade gas from eastern Mediterranean fields directly to European buyers at market prices, without the infrastructure commitments the hub would require.
Kılıçdaroğlu also questioned Ankara’s recent announcements of large Black Sea oil and gas discoveries, calling them a distraction designed to make the Russian-supplied hub appear to rest on Turkish reserves. If the project proceeds, he argued, the lion’s share of gas transiting the hub will come from Russia regardless.
The comments came one day after first-round candidate Sinan Oğan announced he was endorsing Erdoğan rather than Kılıçdaroğlu, effectively directing roughly five per cent of first-round votes toward the incumbent. With the runoff set for Sunday, Kılıçdaroğlu’s scepticism of a project that resonates with parts of the electorate gives pro-hub voters little reason to cross over.
The Erdoğan government has positioned the natural gas hub as a cornerstone of Turkey’s post-Ukraine neutrality, a commercial bridge between Russian supply and European demand. Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks suggest he would abandon that ambition if he wins.
