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President Aliyev: TANAP is another victory of Turkey, Azerbaijan

Politics Materials 12 June 2018 19:13 (UTC +04:00)
The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is another victory of Turkey and Azerbaijan
President Aliyev: TANAP is another victory of Turkey, Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12

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The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is another victory of Turkey and Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

He made the remarks addressing the opening ceremony of TANAP in Turkey’s Eskisehir city June 12.

“My dear brother, dear President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dear presidents, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to express satisfaction with being on the soil of brotherly Turkey once again. We in Azerbaijan are very glad for Turkey’s success under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has turned into a great power as a result of President Erdogan’s tireless activity,” said President Aliyev.

The head of state noted that Turkey is a country which determines the world agenda.

“We in Azerbaijan are glad for that. Turkey’s strength is our strength, and our strength is in our unity. We have been demonstrating this unity for many years. Today, it is very difficult to find such countries that are so close to each other and support each other so much. The unity of Turkey and Azerbaijan, their fraternity are important factors for our countries, our peoples, our region and for Eurasia,” he added.

President Aliyev noted that the commissioning of TANAP today is another manifestation of the Turkey-Azerbaijan brotherhood.

“TANAP is another victory of Turkey and Azerbaijan. TANAP is a historic project,” said the head of state.

“Today we are writing the energy history of the 21st century together. This is the history of cooperation. This is the history of stability. Our energy projects bring stability to our region. All countries, companies participating in these projects get benefit, peoples get benefit,” said President Aliyev.

The head of state noted that the implementation of such a huge project as TANAP became possible thanks to the joint strong political will of Turkish and Azerbaijani leaders.

“This is not the first project that we have implemented together. Prior to this, we marked the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline in 2006. We together opened the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline in 2007. Last year, we opened the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway together. We attended all these opening ceremonies together with my dear brother Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We are together today, on this historic day as well. This shows that any project put forward on our initiative is realized, because thought-out policy, strong will and our brotherhood stands behind this,” said President Aliyev.

The head of state pointed out that over the last years, there were held many discussions and events on transportation of large volumes of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

“But regretfully, they didn’t bring any result. In this case, Turkey and Azerbaijan decided to put forward a new project. We named it together as TANAP. The agreement on TANAP was signed in Istanbul in 2012 by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and me. On that day, during that signing ceremony, we expressed our wish to see this day and Allah granted us this. We have done great work over these years,” added President Aliyev.

“Implementation of TANAP project is a very difficult task both from technical and financial point of view. But we implemented it with great success,” said the head of state.

Today, the commissioning of TANAP creates great opportunities for neighboring and friendly countries, said President Aliyev, adding that TANAP brings together seven countries and many companies.

“TANAP, which is an integral part of the Southern Gas Corridor, is an indispensable infrastructure project for resolving energy security issues at present and in the future,” he said.

The head of state noted that the official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor was organized in Baku two weeks ago, on May 29.

“The Southern Gas Corridor consists of four major projects: Stage 2 of development of Shah Deniz gas field (this field’s reserves stand at 1.2 trillion cubic meters), South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP and TAP. Three of these four projects have already been implemented and completed. TAP is 72 percent complete. I am confident that TAP project will also be completed in the next two years and thus, Europe’s largest infrastructure project, the Southern Gas Corridor, which requires $40 billion worth investment, will be implemented. This historic achievement will enable us to transport Azerbaijan’s rich gas reserves to Turkey and European markets with short and safe route and in a diversified form,” said the head of state.

Southern Gas Corridor is an energy security project, said President Aliyev, adding that energy security is a national security issue of every country.

“Energy security and diversification of energy resources are exactly what make the Southern Gas Corridor important. Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Turkey and European markets with new routes via the Southern Gas Corridor. The Southern Gas Corridor is a project of both new routes and a new source. It serves energy diversification in true sense of the word,” said the president.

SOCAR, BOTAS and BP have participated in the implementation of this great work, said President Aliyev, adding that they are TANAP’s shareholders.

“I would like to express gratitude to them. I want to express gratitude to all companies, which participated in these activities for carrying out this great work at high quality and in a short time,” he said.

The head of state noted that the Southern Gas Corridor constitutes a new cooperation format in Eurasia.

“If in the beginning of our work in early 2000s there was created a trilateral cooperation format such as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, today, as I said, seven countries participate in this project. Three more countries will participate in this project as our future partners. We should try to do greater work for supplying Azerbaijani gas to Europe and make our scope wider,” he noted.

“I would like once again to say that today is a historical day. This day became possible only thanks to the strong political will. This project might remain on paper if there were no Turkish-Azerbaijani unity and brotherhood,” said President Aliyev.

Turkey presented itself as a good country for foreign investments, which allowed to make big investments in this country, added the head of state.

“More than $13 billion worth investment has been made in Turkey in recent years by Azerbaijan alone. This figure will reach $20 billion in coming years. I want to sincerely congratulate you, our peoples, all our friends with this remarkable event. I wish TANAP a good journey. Thank you," said the head of state.

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