The author is director of the Turkey program at the Middle East Institute and author of Erdoans War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria.
If the NATO Secretary General is asked to name the decision of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that irritates him the most, he will probably answer the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system. But NATO has an even more serious problem in Turkey-Russia relations: the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
Erdoan likes to describe the plant, built by Russian state-owned Rosatom on the Mediterranean coast, as Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. In reality, it is Russian-owned. In the standard engineering, procurement, and construction model, the supplier designs and builds the reactor before handing over the keys. Akkuyu uses a build-operate (BOO) model that is unprecedented in the industry. Russia retains a majority stake but assumes all financial, operational, and construction risks.
Moscow all inclusive package Contracts for construction, operation and training of personnel, management of spent nuclear fuel and final dismantling are very attractive for a nuclear newcomer like Turkey. BOO contracts are costly for Moscow, which is why Russia has implemented them only in Akkuyu and is reluctant to use them again. But President Vladimir Putin must have thought that the benefits of owning strategic infrastructure in a NATO country outweighed the financial risks. He is probably right.
As someone born and raised just a few kilometres from the plant, I am deeply concerned about the lack of transparency around the process, the environmental risks and the lack of security at Rosatom. save This worries me and millions of locals. Western countries can ignore these concerns and even congratulate Turkey on its green transition, but Akkuyu is also a NATO problem, and a long-term one.
The Akkuyu project was hailed by Erdoan as his plan to reduce Turkey's energy dependence, particularly on Russia. But instead of doing that, the BOO deal ties Turkey and Russia together for the next centuryover a planned 60-year operating cycle and subsequent decommissioning process.
Turkey's opposition parties are opposed to the project. To protect it, Erdoğan signed an intergovernmental agreement with Putin, making it constitutionally impossible for a post-Erdoğan government to challenge it. This means that Russia, known for using energy as a geopolitical weapon, will have direct control over the strategic infrastructure of a NATO member country for 100 years, regardless of who is in power.
And that's not all. The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is close to the Incirlik air base, where NATO is located. the biggest Turkey is a nuclear weapons storage facility and a support center for alliance missions. The plant is also in close proximity to NATO’s ballistic missile defense radar facility at Krecik. The BOO contract places Russian personnel and assets near those NATO facilities. Turkey could build another radar to protect the plant. Military analysts and defense officials worry that since the Akkuyu nuclear plant is Russian-owned, Moscow could demand to operate the radar and send troops to provide security. Yank Bacolu, a retired rear admiral who is vice chairman of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in charge of national defense, told me that Erdoan must not let that happen.
The West has largely overlooked Russia’s use of nuclear power to build long-term political, economic and military ties with strategically important countries. While Turkey has been criticized and placed under sanctions for purchasing the S-400, Western countries have remained silent on Akkuyu. But now Turkey wants to build a second nuclear reactor and Russia is ready to do so. in front To deprive Moscow of a geopolitical advantage and assuage local security and environmental concerns, the West must do more to match Moscow’s favorable terms. Pressuring Western development banks to abandon their reluctance to finance nuclear energy projects would be a good start.
