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Putin, Erdogan will attend Akkuyu groundbreaking next week: Turkish PM

Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin will attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the Akkuyu nuclear plant next week, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said

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Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin
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Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin will attend a groundbreaking ceremony for the Akkuyu nuclear plant next week, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday.

Turkey's first nuclear plant at Akkuyu is likely to miss its 2023 target start-up date, two people familiar with the matter had told Reuters this month, but Rosatom, which is looking for local partners to take a 49 percent stake in the project, says it is committed to the timetable.

Earlier, Erdogan said he will seek the removal at a summit with the EU on Monday of all obstacles to a stalled membership bid, which the bloc however believes are of Ankara's own making.

Criticism from European Union governments of what many view as Erdogan's growing authoritarianism at home and his intervention in Syria's war has created an uneasy backdrop to the gathering in the Black Sea port of Varna.

Some countries had called for an end to long-stalled accession talks and had hesitated to agree to meet him.

But Erdogan said it was time for the EU to "keep its promises" to Turkey, which started formal membership negotiations in 2005 that stalled five years and have now effectively collapsed.

"EU membership continues to be our strategic goal," Erdogan told reporters before departing for the summit. "In today's EU summit, we will convey our expectations about the lifting of the obstacles our country has faced."

Erdogan, who has alarmed the West with a massive purge since a failed coup attempt in July 2016, remains an important ally in the US-led NATO alliance and the fight against Islamic militants, and the destination for many Syrians fleeing war.

Turkey shares a border with Iraq, Syria and with Russia in the Black Sea, and the EU is its biggest foreign investor and trading partner.

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