The agreement on the TurkStream project between Turkey and Russia entered into force through promulgation in the Turkish Official Gazette on Tuesday.
The law on the approval of TurkStream natural gas pipeline project agreement between the Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation under law no. 6765, came into effect from Dec. 6 -- the time of its publication, according to the Turkish Official Gazette.
The General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament ratified the bill for the TurkStream agreement on Dec. 2 and it was consequently approved by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of the Turkish Republic.
On the same day, Leonid Slutksy, the chairman of the Russian state Duma (lower house of Russia's parliament) Committee for International Affairs confirmed the Russian government will submit the agreement on the TurkStream project between Russia and Turkey to the Russian parliament for ratification.
'We will work on the project systematically after it is submitted to the State Duma,' he said.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Nov. 22 that Russia is ready to expand the TurkStream natural gas pipeline project to Europe if the European Union is willing to agree on taking its gas.
Gazprom's Management Committee Alexey Miller said on Nov. 21 that two lines of the TurkStream will be ready by the end of 2019.
The TurkStream project, whose intergovernmental agreement between Turkey and Russia was signed on Oct. 10 in Istanbul, will supply gas to Europe via Greece.
The project, announced by Putin during a December 2014 visit to Turkey, will carry gas from Russia under the Black Sea to Turkey's Thrace region.
By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
muhsin.tiryakioglu@aa.com.tr