Turkey Strengthens Its Position as an Energy Centre Country: BOTAŞ-Turkmengaz Agreement

BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz have agreed on the supply of Turkmen natural gas to Turkey starting from 1 March 2025. This agreement is extremely important in many respects. First and foremost, it is seen that long years of negotiations have been brought to a concrete conclusion. In this context, it is possible to state that the negotiations on natural gas trade between Turkey and Turkmenistan, which started in 1998, have reached a conclusion after 27 years. However, perhaps the most important turning point in the negotiations was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's meeting with Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, President of the People's Assembly of Turkmenistan, who came to Turkey to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on 1 March 2024. During the meeting, agreements were signed to increase cooperation in natural gas and oil between the two countries, and a declaration of intent was made to transport Turkmenistan's rich natural gas resources to Turkey and to the West via Turkey.
Another important milestone in this direction was the visit of Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, to Turkmenistan last July. Following these developments, steps have started to be taken to concretise the negotiations and agreements between the parties since 1998. Accordingly, intensive efforts were made to establish the necessary technical and legal infrastructure for the commencement of gas flow from Turkmenistan to Turkey. As a result, an important agreement was reached between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz that will usher in a new era in energy cooperation.
The agreement between the parties was announced by Minister Bayraktar on social media. As a matter of fact, the agreement between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz is indeed a historic step, as Minister Bayraktar stated on social media. It is inevitable that both parties will make significant gains from the agreement. One of the most important gains for Turkmenistan is undoubtedly the fact that a step towards market diversification is being taken. As a matter of fact, despite being an extremely important country in terms of natural gas reserves, Turkmenistan is largely dependent on China and Russia. While Turkmenistan's dependence on Russia is a legacy of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan's orientation towards China in order to overcome this problem has become a different energy security problem like external dependence, especially in recent years. In this respect, the agreement between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz will contribute positively to overcome the foreign dependency problem to some extent.
From the perspective of Turkey, which consumes more than 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually and meets this need through LNG imports from various sources in addition to the gas coming from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran through pipelines, and which aims to become an energy hub, it is arguable that the agreement between BOTAŞ and Turkmengaz will lead to extremely important gains. In this respect, such cooperation is of great importance for Turkey's strategy of diversifying its energy supply and increasing its energy security. As a matter of fact, the delivery of Turkmen gas to Turkey will both strengthen the economic and political ties between the two countries and contribute to the diversification of Turkey's energy resources. In addition, it is obvious that this agreement will also serve Turkey's goal of becoming an energy centre.
In conclusion, with the agreement, an important step has been taken to strengthen the cooperation between Turkey and Turkmenistan in the field of energy. Although the details of the agreement have not yet been made public, it is envisaged that the natural gas from Turkmenistan will be transported through Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, it is necessary not to make a definite judgement until the details of the agreement are shared with the public. However, what is certain is that this development can be considered as a part of Turkey's efforts to increase its energy supply security. Strengthening regional energy cooperation in this direction supports Turkey's goal of becoming an energy hub.