Click to see full-size image. (Syrian Arab News Agency)
Turkey on August 2 began supplying natural gas from Azerbaijan to Syria under a deal financed by Qatar, the main backer of the country’s new Islamist-led interim government.
Speaking at a ceremony attended by Syria’s energy minister and Azerbaijan’s economy minister as well as the head of Qatar’s development fund, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the initiative would help Syria get back to normal.
“In the initial phase, up to two billion cubic metres of natural gas per year could be exported to Syria,” Bayraktar said in the southern province of Kilis near the Syrian border.
“The gas will help activate a power plant with a capacity of around 1,200 megawatts, meeting the electricity needs of approximately five million households, and making a significant contribution to the normalisation of daily life in Syria,”the minister continued.
“We will transport natural gas to Aleppo and from Aleppo to Homs. This will enable the power plants there to be put into operation in the near future,” he added.
Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said the project followed agreements in April and July between Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa.
“By launching gas exports to Syria, Azerbaijan has demonstrated that it is capable of exporting gas not only to the West, but also to the East and the South,” he said at the event.
Meanwhile, Syria’s Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said that the “launch of the regional gas pipeline linking Syria to Azerbaijan via Turkey represents a strategic step toward enhancing Syria’s energy security,”
“Deep gratitude to the partner countries in this achievement—Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Qatar—for their fraternal support for Syria,” the minister added.
The deal highlights Qatar;s growing support of Syria. A first phase of Doha’s scheme to fund gas supplies for power generation in Syria rolled out in March via Jordan and provided 400 megawatts of electricity per day.
Azerbaijan has been also building an alliance with Syria, going as far as mediating in talks between the country’s government and Israel. Baku may be looking for more than diplomatic prestige, however.
Israel already imports substantial amounts of oil and gas from Azerbaijan, to whom it exports military equipment. The line now pumping gas to Syria via Turkey can be easily extended to Israel if a peace agreement, or at least a security understanding, was reached between the two countries. From there, Baku could potentially have another access point to the European energy market.
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terrorist will always be aterrorist even in a fancy suit.
all pipes to israel will be bombed. u can forget about it
islamist snakes making a deal with islamists. stand strong israel, resist the religion of peace, tolerance and acceptance.