Rapid deliveries of Turkmen gas to Turkey, which Erdogan hoped for, are not expected

There will be no quick deliveries of Turkmen gas to Turkey, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had hoped for. This is the result of the first trilateral summit of the leaders of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan held on December 14. According to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation was signed during the talks, and a working group was formed, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reported.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on his way to Turkmenistan, said that one of the priority areas of dialogue with Baku and Ashgabat is the energy sphere. “I hope Turkmen gas will start flowing to Turkey via the Caspian Sea in the near future,” Erdogan said. According to him, Ashgabat “shows great interest in this project.”

The Turkmen side was represented at the summit by Serdar and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, President and former President, the head of the Upper House of Parliament. Turkmenistan intends to develop trilateral cooperation, mainly in the use of hydrocarbon resources, energy, electricity and transit. At the end of the summit, which was held at the Congress – the center of the national tourist zone Avaza, only a few memorandums in the areas of trade, science, education, culture, customs, energy and transport were signed.

As the expert on Central Asia Serdar Aytakov told “NG”, the summit of the “troika” ended without the result that at least President Erdogan of Turkey had hoped for. Figuratively speaking, he wanted to take away from Avaza a political decision on Turkmenistan’s readiness to supply its gas to Europe, via Turkey, of course. There are no problems with Azerbaijan. It’s up to Turkmenistan. “With Azerbaijan, Turkey is taking effective steps through various mechanisms. Azerbaijani natural gas is transported via the Southern Gas Corridor and TANAP to Europe. On the issue of natural gas from Turkmenistan, we are also ready to take joint steps in favor of the three countries and have decided to establish a working group on this issue. “The memorandum of understanding signed today also creates the necessary framework,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Avaza.

“In other words, the sides have agreed to continue to negotiate. This shows that the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance was unable to offer the Turkmen side conditions guaranteeing the flow of investments and technology, and guarantees for the purchase of Turkmen gas by European consumers, and in quantities and at attractive prices. And the Turkmen side was not willing to sign a declarative document that would deprive the Turkmen side of the political initiative and independence in favor of President Erdogan,” the expert said. A joint statement was issued at the summit. But it did not mention Turkmenistan’s joining the Organization of Turkic States.