KARS
The groundbreaking ceremony of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline was held Tuesday, with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in the northeastern Turkish city of Kars.
TANAP is part of the Southern Gas Corridor project that will carry natural gas from Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, passing through Turkish territory, and entering into western Greece. The pipeline will then travel to Albania and then to Italy in order to reach Europe.
When completed, TANAP will carry around 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe.
Erdogan said during the ceremony that TANAP is a crucial step toward Turkey’s goal of becoming an energy hub for the region by the republic's 100-year anniversary in 2023.
"TANAP will be a project of peace and prosperity," Erdogan added.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Aliyev and Margvelashvili both said that the TANAP and Southern Gas Corridor projects are among the biggest and most strategic ventures in the world.
Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said the political will of Turkey and Azerbaijan has been "the main strength of TANAP."
"Turkey is a bridge for transporting the sources of the East to consumers in the West," Yildiz said.
Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission's vice president in charge of the Energy Union, said TANAP held strategic importance for Europe’s energy security.
Europe has been working hard to diversify its sources of gas supply, especially after the Ukrainian crisis fueled political tension between the EU and Russia.
