Erdogan: “As with the defense industry, total independence is our major goal in energy”

AA / Istanbul / Mikail Biykli – Kaan Bozdogan

The President of the Turkiye Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that full independence in the energy sector is a major goal for his country.

The Turkish Head of State spoke on Friday at the 2nd Natural Resources Summit in Istanbul.

During his speech, Erdogan particularly focused on the need for his country to gain total independence in the energy sector.

To explain his remarks, he recalled the consequences, for the region but also for the whole world, of the American-Israeli war launched on February 28 against Iran, causing serious difficulties in the transport of oil and gas in particular, across the Strait of Hormuz.

Türkiye, due to its geographical position and its numerous energy infrastructures, stands out, in this context, for the opportunities it represents and offers.

“The Türkiye is the most powerful bridge, crossing point and junction between regions rich in energy resources and countries that need them,” he said.

Before continuing: “The Türkiye has demonstrated once again that it is indispensable and essential in reliable energy supply. The Türkiye has recently distinguished itself both as a reliable partner in the transport of energy and as a key player in peace”.

The Turkish president explained that his country now has “gigantic” energy infrastructure which allows it to buy natural gas from 39 different countries.

“We have made Turkiye one of the most powerful energy centers in Europe with LNG terminals, FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit) installations, investments in storage and pipelines,” he further said, adding that with the various ongoing projects, the country’s daily LNG storage capacities will increase. from 161 million m3 to 200 million m3.

Erdogan also recalled his country’s international cooperation in the field of energy.

“The work we are carrying out off the coast of Somalia is of historic importance because it is the first deep-water research drilling of the Türkiye abroad,” he said.

And to continue: “With our neighbor in Syria, we are continuing our joint work with the new government in both the mining and oil sectors.”

To conclude, Erdogan stressed the importance of energy independence: “As with the Defense industry sector, total independence is our major objective for the energy sector.”

*Translated from Turkish by Tuncay Çakmak