Erdoğan, Aliyev inaugurate key gas pipeline to Nakhchivan

ANKARA

Türkiye and Azerbaijan have inaugurated a key natural gas pipeline from the former’s Iğdır province to the latter’s Nakhchivan autonomous region, further expanding energy cooperation between the two regional allies.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev attended the inauguration from the Turkish capital through video conference with the participation of senior officials from both sides on March 5. A separate ceremony was held in Iğdır under the leadership of Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and his Azerbaijani counterpart Parviz Shahbazov.

Erdoğan and Aliyev pressed the button to send the first natural gas from Iğdır to Nakhcivan.

Thanks to the 85-kilometer pipeline, all Nakhchivan’s annual natural gas need of 500 million cubic meters will be met through Türkiye.

“This project will add another chain to our developing energy cooperation,” President Erdoğan said, underlining that ties between the two nations are developing in every field, including defense, trade and energy.

The pipeline inaugurated on March 5 will further strengthen the bilateral strategic energy cooperation, Erdoğan said.

“Türkiye and Azerbaijan are on the side of peace, prosperity and stability. What we want in our region is peace and prosperity. We say ‘Let’s develop altogether.’ To this end, we take our steps,” Erdoğan said, referring to ongoing peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Türkiye and Armenia.

“We are committed to undertake more projects devoted to the regional development,” the president added.

For his part, Aliyev described the inauguration of the pipeline as an important day in the history of the Turkish-Azerbaijani relationships.

“Giant projects Türkiye and Azerbaijan have realized have changed the entire Eurasian energy map,” Aliyev said, citing other pipelines that flow natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.

Aliyev also underlined the importance of other transportation projects between Türkiye and Azerbaijan which will link the Turkic world. “I commend Mr. Erdoğan’s leadership in fulfilling this,” he said.

“Today’s inauguration demonstrates once again the friendship and unity of Türkiye and Azerbaijan,” added the president.

The two presidents laid the foundation of the pipeline in September 2023. Türkiye and Azerbaijan have already existing pipelines: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Project (TANAP) that carries natural gas.

In the meantime, an agreement that stipulates deepening cooperation in the field of natural gas between Türkiye and Azerbaijan was published in the Turkish Official Gazette on March 5. It aims to expand the volume of the natural gas transferred from Azerbaijan to Europe via Türkiye by increasing the capacity of the pipelines.