$1 billion worth of gas found in Gabar: Erdoğan

SAKARYA

Türkiye discovered natural gas reserves valued at $1 billion in the southeastern Gabar mountain, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 23.

“We discovered $1 billion of natural gas in Gabar, and we will extract it as well,” he said at the opening ceremony of Akyazı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sports Complex.

He recalled that Türkiye commissioned its first multi-purpose Amphibious Assault Ship TCG Anadolu recently, and subsequently launched the country’s first delivery from a Black Sea gas reserve.

Türkiye will build an aircraft carrier twice the size of TCG Anadolu he stated, adding that they would display the vessel in İzmir in the coming days. “Hopefully, if you give us this task on May 14, we held preliminary talks with certain countries for the ship, which is twice the size of this vessel,” he said.

“It would be beneficial for it to stay in İzmir for the last one week-10 days. Hopefully, we will send different messages from there with TCG Anadolu. Seventy to 80 thousand people, who visited our ship, gave the good answer to the table of seven,” he said referring to the opposition parties.

“I wish that all natural gas consumption in the houses for one month and the consumption of kitchen and hot water for one year free of charge will be beneficial for our nation once again. My Lord has blessed us, and we are placing the Black Sea gas at the disposal of our nation,” he said.

The government is establishing the mothers, young people, family and youth bank, he said and added, “With this bank, which will take its source from the natural riches of our country such as the Black Sea, we will provide the financing of many studies from here.”

He reminded that Norway uses a certain proportion of its own natural gas and oil and dedicates it to its youth.

“We will do the same in our country. We will support the retirement of our housewives. We will expand scholarship opportunities at all levels of education. We will facilitate the employment of our youth by ensuring that at least one person from each household is employed,” he stated.

Citing the period before the rule of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan said Türkiye has developed far beyond 1999 and is now “healing” the wounds of the Feb. 6 earthquakes faster.

“We will completely revive our earthquake cities by building 650,000 new houses. We are carrying out comprehensive urban transformation projects to prepare our whole country for earthquakes,” he explained.

Criticizing the Nation Alliance presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan said the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader pledged to “release” the former co-chair of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş and leader of illegal PKK group Abdullah Öcalan from prison.

“He was going to take out Selo, who killed 51 of our citizens in Diyarbakır, and he would take out the terrorist leader Öcalan. This country is not a terrorist state,” Erdoğan said.