MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Turkey expects that the Akkuyu nuclear power plant will start functioning in 2025 despite all the obstacles created by the West, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly (the parliament) of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

"The Akkuyu project is developing in the positive direction," the speaker said. "Regrettably, due to sanctions introduced against Russia in this period, we see a certain delay occurred in the project because some Western companies did not furnish materials and equipment we need for Akkuyu. I hope nevertheless that at least the first part of the nuclear plant will start generating electric power in 2025," Kurtulmus noted.

This project is not merely an important sphere of interaction between the two countries but is also critical for Turkey’s energy security, the speaker added. The Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Turkey being constructed by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.