Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country and Russia have instructed their energy authorities to immediately begin technical studies on a proposal from the Kremlin that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

Mr Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution centre, adding that Turkey’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.

He said: “Together with Mr Putin, we have instructed our ministry of energy and natural resources and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together.

“They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution centre there.”

The Turkish leader made the comments on Thursday on his return from a regional summit in Kazakhstan where he met with Mr Putin.

His words were reported by Hurriyet newspaper and other media. It was the Turkish leader’s first statement on the Russian proposal.

“There will be no waiting,” Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Turkey has long voiced a desire to become an energy hub.

Energy analysts have, however, questioned the likelihood of the proposal to ship gas to Europe via Turkey getting off the ground, with European leaders criticising Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier and calling Russia’s cuts in natural gas a political bid to divide them over their support for Ukraine.

Germany this week rejected another proposal by Mr Putin to step up gas flows to Europe via a link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea – a pipeline that has never been operational.

Moscow cut off the parallel Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline over what it claimed were technical problems.

When asked to comment on an assertion by Mr Putin that Russia had foiled an attack on the TurkStream gas pipeline, Mr Erdogan said Turkey was taking every step necessary to secure the pipeline.