Erdogan supports connecting Turkmenistan with a gas pipeline crossing Türkiye and Azerbaijan to reduce dependence on Russia
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday endorsed the construction of a new natural gas pipeline that would reduce Europe’s dependence on Russia by linking up with energy-rich Turkmenistan.
The Turkish president’s statements came during a tripartite summit that brought him together with his Turkmen and Azerbaijani counterparts in the city of Avaza in Turkmenistan.
The summit took place at a time when Europe is making efforts to cut off Russian energy supplies in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Erdogan seeks to mediate a solution to the conflict by maintaining, on the one hand, his good relations with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and on the other, supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Erdogan backs Putin’s proposal for a gas hub in Türkiye that would supply European customers by bypassing pipelines crossing Ukraine and the Baltic Sea.
But the Turkish president announced Wednesday his support for a new project that would link a pipeline crossing Türkiye and Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan.
A statement issued by the Turkish President’s office quoted Erdogan as saying, “We’re pumping Caspian Sea gas to Europe through the current corridor, which is the backbone of the trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline”.
“We’ve to start working on transporting Turkmen natural gas to Western markets in the same way,” the Turkish president added.
According to the US Energy Information Administration’s classification of countries with the largest proven reserves of natural gas, Turkmenistan ranks sixth.
Previously, most of Turkmenistan’s gas production was pumped to world markets through pipelines linking it to Russia.
Recently, the country has boosted China’s supply of the material, and is looking for ways to access new markets through Türkiye.
Erdogan has always aspired to exploit Türkiye’s location on the outskirts of the Mediterranean and Europe in order to turn the country into one of the most important global centers for energy trade.
Countries in Central Asia are reassessing their once close relations with Moscow since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s decision to limit gas supplies in response to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow prompted European countries to search for new energy sources with the onset of the winter season.
