According to the latest reports, Turkey ranks number five at the energy import dependence among 39 European countries. According to the statistical office of the European Union’s (Eurostat) data, while 28 of European Union (EU) member countries' dependency on energy imports is 55 percent, this ratio is 77 percent in Turkey.
Turkey’s dependency ratio increased by 4.1% in 10 years, which was 74.1% back in 2007 and raised up to 77.2% in 2017. The lowest dependency rate in the last 10 years was 2009 with 70.4 percent.
Turkey’s dependency rate has risen by 9.7 percent in the last 8 years.
According to Eurostat, Malta is the country most dependent on energy imports with 103 percent, followed by Cyprus with 96 percent, Luxembourg with 95 percent and Portugal with 80 percent. Turkey, which ranks fifth, is followed by 77 percent with Italy, Lithuania with 76 percent, followed by Belgium with 75 and Spain with 74 percent.
Turkey was mostly dependent on foreign oil and then natural gas was added to the high rate of dependency. In particular, with the policies followed in the last 10-15 years, imported coal emerged as another item of this dependence. Turkey is also dependent on foreign sources in terms of technological development for energy production, energy experts say.
