We Must Ensure That The Caspian Unites The Turkish World, Not Separate It

Minister Bayraktar emphasized that it is necessary to combine fragmented structures and create a synergy, and said, "This cooperation will be much more meaningful and strong with the participation of Türkiye and Kyrgyzstan. With this project, we will bring the electricity produced to life the potential of the region, first to the Turkish market, and from there to Europe. We must ensure that the Caspian unites the Turkish World, not separate it." said.

Gathered in Istanbul

Energy Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) met in Istanbul. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar hosted the meeting, which was held for the fifth time this year. Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Perviz Shahbazov, Deputy Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Ilyas Bakytzhan Nassenovich, Minister of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic Taalaibek Ibraev, Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto and TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu attended the meeting.

2 Trillion Dollar Economy

In his speech at the opening of the meeting, Minister Bayraktar stated that the Organization of Turkic States represents a population of approximately 180 million, a geography of 4.5 million square kilometers and an economic size of over 2 trillion dollars, and said, "One tenth of the world's natural gas reserves are located in this geography. At one end it is neighboring to China, at the other end to the Mediterranean and Europe. A geography that has borders with Russia and where we have borders with energy-rich countries in the Middle East." said.

He Called With The Words Of Hacı Bektaş

Addressing the guest ministers with the words of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, "Let's be one, let's be big, let's be alive." Minister Bayraktar said, "In this sense, we must ensure that the Caspian unites the Turkish World, not separates them. I would like to state that the 'Green Energy Corridor' project, which envisages transporting the electricity from renewable energy to be produced in Central Asia to the west of the Caspian, is very important in this context. We are working together with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria on this issue," he said.

Fragmented Structure

Minister Bayraktar also stated that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan signed an agreement among themselves and said, "We learned about Kyrgyzstan's desire to join this union and we are pleased with it. We think that these fragmented structures should be combined and created a synergy. This cooperation will be much more meaningful and strong with the participation of Türkiye and Kyrgyzstan. With this project, we will carry the electricity produced by realizing the potential of the region first to the Turkish market and from there to Europe." said.

Game Changer Effect

Pointing out that the hydrocarbon resources in the east of the Caspian should also be transported to the west of the Caspian, Bayraktar said, "We have now reached the stage of taking concrete steps in our goal of delivering natural gas to Türkiye with the Caspian Crossing Pipeline, which is our 30-year-old dream. Infrastructure is already ready for this in the west of the Caspian, TANAP is a very strategic project in this context. The progress we will make in this goal will both contribute to the development of the Turkish States and will have a game-changing effect in the context of European and Mediterranean energy markets." he said.

Increase in Turkmen Gas

Bayraktar emphasized that thanks to Türkiye's strong natural gas infrastructure, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and North Macedonia contribute to the supply security and that BOTAŞ has a very wide supply network. We imported gas from Turkmenistan to our country for the first time this year. As a next step, we aim to further increase this amount of flow.” said.

Cooperation in Third Countries

Pointing out that they started to supply natural gas to Syria in cooperation with Azerbaijan and Qatar, Bayraktar said that they completed the agreements and the first stage technical studies for the search sites in Somalia and Pakistan. Bayraktar; Stating that they have developed very productive cooperations with companies such as Socar, MOL and MVM, Kazmunaygaz, Turkmengaz, "We wish to develop these cooperations with all member countries and public and private sector companies both in our own countries and in third countries."

Investments Should Increase

Underlining that one of the important actors of the energy transformation process is critical minerals, Bayraktar stated that it may be useful to organize a ministerial meeting for mines within the TDT. Noting that it is important to remove these meetings from being a place where good intentions are shared, Bayraktar said, "We need to act together quickly and increase investments to catch the transformation in the world." Bayraktar also underlined that it is necessary to come together with the business world in such meetings.

Antalya Invitation

Reminding that COP31, the United Nations Climate Change Parties Conference, will be held in Antalya in November 2026, Bayraktar congratulated Azerbaijan, which hosted the 29th conference, and invited all participants to Antalya.