Türkiye-Azerbaijan gas exports to Syria aid stability: Erdoğan

Natural gas supplies launched to Syria through a joint initiative by Türkiye and Azerbaijan are helping support the country’s reconstruction and regional stability, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday.

Türkiye and Azerbaijan launched gas exports to Syria last August, with the initial delivery plan foreseeing flows of 1.2 billion cubic meters annually.

The contributions of the supplies to Syria’s development and regional security are “indisputable,” Erdoğan said in a message to the Baku Energy Week conference.

His remarks were delivered by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar during the event’s opening session.

Gas is transported through Turkish territory to Syria under a coordinated arrangement from Shah Deniz gas field in the Azeri Caspian Sea.

The gas is used to restart power plants in Syria and support basic energy needs in areas affected by conflict.

Türkiye supported opposition forces in Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended with the ousting of longtime dictator Bashar Assad in December 2024 and has become one of the new Syrian government’s main allies.

Erdoğan said recent regional developments had demonstrated the importance of energy steps taken by Türkiye and Azerbaijan. He stressed the two countries had successfully implemented a series of major energy infrastructure projects once considered unattainable for the region.

He cited the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline and the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which carries ‌Azerbaijani ⁠gas to Europe through Türkiye.

TANAP-style electricity corridor with Azerbaijan

Addressing the forum, Energy Minister Bayraktar said Türkiye and Azerbaijan were expanding their energy partnership beyond ​oil and gas into electricity ‌transmission and green energy corridors.

He said Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria and ​southeast European countries were working ​to strengthen regional energy connectivity.

“We are going to create the electricity version of ​TANAP,” Bayraktar said.