Türkiye Will Not Miss the Boat This Time

Minister Bayraktar answered questions from Serhat İbrahimoğlu during a live broadcast on TVNET. Commenting on current events, Minister Bayraktar summarized his remarks as follows:

THE CRISIS IN THE STRAIT OF HURMUZ: The world is facing a massive crisis with global repercussions. We need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that this uncertainty will persist for a longer period. There are aspects of this crisis that affect different parts of the world differently. From the supply side, we have been stating since the crisis began that there is no risk for our country. Thankfully, as of today, we remain in the same position. Thankfully, we have no issues with fuel, natural gas, or electricity in Türkiye; we are not experiencing any supply shortages in the energy sector.

DRILLING IN SOMALIA: Everyone in Somalia is awaiting the results of these drilling operations with great hope and excitement. Of course, we are too. We will be conducting a drilling operation at a site where we believe there are indications of oil. I hope that within a few months, we will be able to share some very good news—beneficial for both Somalia and Türkiye—with our people. But it is not possible to say anything today before the drilling is complete. Today, international oil and natural gas companies enter into production-sharing agreements in various countries. We have such an agreement with Somalia as well. In this agreement, we have safeguarded the rights of both parties. The agreement we have made is based on mutual consent. There is a state royalty involved here, meaning the amount we will pay to the Somali government. Additionally, a model was implemented where we will recover the expenses we incur. We are not giving those who seek to sow seeds of discord between us and our brothers in Somalia any opportunity to do so.

FIELDS IN LIBYA: Libya is a very important area for us. Both Libya’s offshore and onshore fields. We have obtained one onshore and one offshore license; we will begin operations there. We believe and are convinced that Türkiye needs to enter Libya with much greater strength. In this regard, we are also exploring the possibility of a different project through partnerships in the local initiatives. Negotiations are currently ongoing; nothing has been finalized yet, but we are quite close to reaching an agreement on this matter. I hope we will once again share good news with our nation regarding Libya specifically.

MINING AND EMPLOYMENT: Türkiye must prioritize its mining sector—without ever neglecting occupational health and safety or workers’ rights—and integrate it into the economy in a way that adds value, working in harmony with the environment rather than at its expense. There is no other way. Mining means employment. Today, 150,000 people work in the mining sector. Only 30,000 work in domestic coal mines. The unfortunate incident we experienced stemmed from a market player—whom you would expect to act like a prudent businessman—failing to pay workers’ wages. Some of these issues make it to the public eye, but we handle many of the unreported ones internally. This latest issue, as always, has once again become a target for exploitation by the opposition. 

CRITICAL MINERALS AND NTE: You need these critical minerals in every sector. That is why, as Türkiye, we are preparing a strategic document and roadmap in this regard. We will share it with the public very soon. Regarding the rare earth elements, our efforts to integrate the reserve we discovered in Beylikova, Eskişehir, into our economy are ongoing. We have a pilot facility there with an annual capacity of 1,200 tons. We are working on establishing an industrial facility that will process 570,000 tons of ore and produce 10,000 tons of rare earth oxides in the first phase. 

NEW ENERGY ARCHITECTURE: We are currently working on this, and, God willing, we may be able to share this with the Turkish public before COP 31. Electrification is at the heart of this effort. We are planning a new energy architecture for Türkiye centered on a robust infrastructure, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and nuclear energy. Of course, this includes new pipeline projects, connectivity, and regional cooperation with other countries in electricity, natural gas, and oil. We will outline this new energy and mining architecture, which will integrate our minerals into the economy in a value-added manner.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: We need more electricity, and we are envisioning a model where we meet that need through nuclear energy. The target we have set is 20,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2050. This means a Türkiye that meets 15 percent of its projected electricity demand from nuclear power, based on our current estimates. That is why we need Sinop alongside Akkuyu, Trakya alongside Sinop, and Türkiye needs small modular reactors. These small modular reactors, which we call “SMRs,” represent the new era of nuclear energy. Here, Türkiye will hopefully not miss this train this time and will become a country that possesses this technology, produces it, and perhaps even exports it. We aim to bring a Small Modular Reactor Law to our Parliament to establish a strong legal framework for this endeavor. I believe that Türkiye’s journey toward nuclear energy, which began with Akkuyu, will continue with even greater momentum during this period.

ZERO WASTE: The Zero Waste initiative launched by Her Excellency in 2017 has evolved into an incredible global brand. Last year’s forum, in particular, hosted many participants from around the world, and we were among them. Now we want to add energy efficiency to this forum and, in a sense, transform it into an international initiative as well. Energy efficiency is one of our most important tools for Türkiye to express its positions more assertively at the United Nations Climate Conference. That is why we are partnering with the Zero Waste Foundation. We aim to develop energy efficiency across our entire country with a sense of national mobilization. With the goal of transforming this into a brand akin to Zero Waste, we will first organize a festival and then the forum.