Baku rejects Turkish MP's "baseless" claims, urges apology
By Vugar Khalilov
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva has rejected as "baseless" Turkish MP Aykut Erdogdu’s claims on the alleged "tangled and dark ties" between the Azerbaijani and Turkish leaders.
“We reject the completely baseless accusations made by the CHP [Republican People's Party] MP about the allegedly 'tangled and dark ties' between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Relations between President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan are fraternal and based on the two countries' national interests,” Abdullayeva said in a statement published on the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry website.
In response to the Turkish MP's unfounded accusations about Azerbaijani-Turkish energy relations and the two leaders, the spokesperson emphasized that Azerbaijan and Turkey have open, completely transparent, and mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, including energy.
She went on to say that as a result of these relations, the strategic partnership between the two countries has been strengthened even further, reaching the level of alliance with the historic Shusha Declaration, and the bonds of brotherhood between the two peoples have been strengthened like never before.
"Unfortunately, this is not the first time a CHP representative has taken an anti-Azerbaijani stance and attempted to confuse baseless allegations. These efforts, however, have no chance of success because the manipulation of any pro-Armenian politicians cannot overshadow Turkish-Azerbaijani relations," Abdullayeva emphasized.
Azerbaijan is expecting the CHP to apologize for the allegations made by the deputy. Otherwise, Baku reserves the right to take the issue to court, Abdullayeva said.
In response to claims about bilateral energy relations, she emphasized that the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), as a strategic infrastructure project, is based on strong cooperation and friendship between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the strong political will of the two countries' leaders to address energy security issues.
The TANAP project has a total investment of $6.3 billion. At its peak, the project provided 15,000 jobs, with the majority of the investment coming from local producers. It should be noted that the TANAP project has added a significant amount of value to the Turkish industry and related sectors, Abdullayeva said.
"We want to emphasize that the tariffs used in this project fully comply with all international standards. The Turkish side earns the same amount of transit revenue because it is a 30 percent partner in the project via BOTAS," she added.
The diplomat noted that along with Azerbaijan, Turkey imports natural gas from Russia, Iran, Qatar, Nigeria and other countries and that Azerbaijan has the lowest natural gas price among these producers.
On the other hand, the TANAP project creates new economic and social opportunities for Turkey and ensures the sustainability of its energy security at a time when natural gas prices are at their peak and gas shortages are growing, Abdullayeva stressed.
SOCAR Turkey, a subsidiary of Azerbaijani State Oil Company in Turkey, won a completely open and transparent tender in 2008 with an investment of $ 2.04 billion, she said of Petkim, one of Turkey's largest enterprises.
Abdullayeva added that additional investments in Petkim totaled $ 1.2 billion over the next few years.
Furthermore, with SOCAR's multibillion-dollar investment, the construction of the STAR refinery and its integration with the Petkim petrochemical plant has created opportunities for Turkey to produce an additional $ 2 billion worth of products. Turkey previously spent $ 2 billion on the import of these products, the spokesperson reminded.
Abdullayeva emphasized that the friendly and fraternal relations established by the leaders of the two countries have allowed Azerbaijan to invest more than $ 19 billion in Turkey to date.
On February 1, Erdogdu alleged on his Twitter post that there was corruption in Turkey's natural gas purchase and that the country had lost billions of dollars due to a change in the natural gas agreement signed with Azerbaijan.
He claimed that the TANAP project provided no benefit to Turkey.
"While these confused and dark relations between Erdogan and Aliyev continue, 51 percent of Petkim was transferred to SOCAR and after this transfer, SOCAR received significant benefits," he claimed.
It should be noted that the aforementioned tweet has been removed from the MP's Twitter account.
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