Energy projects high on agenda of Baku-Ankara talks
By Aynur Karimova
Joint energy and transport projects, realized by Azerbaijan and Turkey, are of great significance for both countries, their peoples, the region and the world in general.
This remark was made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a joint press conference with Turkey’s visiting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu following an expanded meeting in Baku on December 3.
Davutoglu embarked on an official visit to Azerbaijan on December 3.
President Aliyev said that the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline is a project of Turkey and Azerbaijan, which the two countries started to jointly realize.
“Today, this gas pipeline is in the spotlight at the global level,” he noted. “There are no problems in implementation of the TANAP project, and today we have once again discussed this issue.”
President Aliyev also expressed confidence that the TANAP project will be implemented in time - in 2018, and possibly even earlier.
"Thus, Azerbaijan will be able to start exporting gas in even larger volumes first to Turkey, and then to Europe,” President Aliyev added.
He went on to say that Turkey and the countries in Europe will get access to a new, alternative source.
President Aliyev believes that all parties will only benefit from this project’s implementation.
In his remarks, Davutoglu said that Turkey and Azerbaijan will accelerate implementation of the TANAP project construction.
He expressed confidence that Turkey will receive Azerbaijani gas via TANAP before 2018.
"Today, Turkey and Azerbaijan implement important energy projects, and TANAP is one of them," the PM noted.
TANAP envisages the transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field on the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey. TANAP’s initial capacity is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Some six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest will go to Europe.
TANAP’s shareholder list will be as follows: SOCAR, 58 percent; Botas, 30 percent; and BP, 12 percent.
The capital costs of the TANAP project are expected to stand at $9.5 billion.
Turkey to continue supporting Azerbaijan in settlement of Karabakh conflict
Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Davutoglu said that Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan in the settlement of the conflict.
He said one of the most important issues for Turkey is the liberation of the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.
Speaking about the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, Davutoglu said they are developing day by day.
Later, a dinner reception was hosted on behalf of President Aliyev in honor of Davutoglu.
The Azerbaijani-Turkish relations have always been strong due to a common culture and history and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani languages.
Turkey was the first country in the world to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to preserve its territorial integrity and realize the economic potential that arises from its rich natural resources in the Caspian Sea.
Considering the current trend in the increase of important projects initiated by the two countries, Azerbaijani-Turkish collaboration is expected to develop in the future.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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