The Turkish Minister of Energy, Alparslan Bayraktar, has stated that their current operations are in the Black Sea but they will return to the Mediterranean.
He emphasised that the Eastern Mediterranean is the most significant part of the “Blue Homeland.”
In an interview with the Turkish channel HaberTurk, Bayraktar said, “Now, the Eastern Mediterranean is actually the most important part of the Blue Homeland.”
“In our 2016 strategy, the Mediterranean was actually at the center of our goal to conduct these operations with our own ships and our own engineers, because we knew that if we didn’t have such a fleet, if we didn’t do it with our own engineers, with our own technicians and our own geologists, and if we rented ships and so on, these operations in the Mediterranean would not be realised. Therefore, we started these activities in the Mediterranean in a very strong way,” he explained.
“Why was the Mediterranean more promising? Because both Israel and Egypt had made very large natural gas discoveries in the Mediterranean at that time. Therefore, everyone was stating that the Mediterranean was very rich in hydrocarbons in terms of oil and natural gas,” he added.
He further stated, “We continue to believe this. I don’t know if we can bring it to the screen, but we have 9 deep-water drilling operations in the Mediterranean. You can see the points, our citizens will see them soon.”
“We have even drilled south of Cyprus, that is, even in a location that is inconceivable to go to, we have drilled,” the Turkish Minister of Energy mentioned.
Bayraktar argued that there are disputed areas in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“As in every operation, as when we went for the second and third drilling in the Mediterranean, many foreign companies left us alone in our operations there, saying that it is the opposing zones or disputed areas where there is a dispute, where there are some claims of the Greek Cypriot administration of southern Cyprus and so on,” he said, referring to the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
“Having the situation like this, we managed to develop these capabilities in a much shorter time. That is, in every sense, these kinds of things that are indirect or direct sanctions, actually pushed us to stand on our own feet and in this way, we became capable of providing these capabilities with our own engineers,” he claimed.
Regarding the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, Bayraktar said, “Turkey has a history of producing nuclear energy since 1950, a history of about 70 years. In the past, there were certain attempts and steps to have nuclear energy from all the respective governments, but the most remarkable and most mature project is the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, which is under construction.”
In fact, he added, “The choice of Akkuyu as a location dates back to the 1970s.”
“The finding of Istanbul Technical University is that: Yes, this location is suitable for a nuclear power plant and it dates back to the 1970s, but nothing had been done since then. In 2010, during the premiership of our President, as you know, an intergovernmental agreement was signed with the Russian Federation,” Bayraktar stated.
He also said that their goal is to put Akkuyu into operation in 2025. “The first reactor, but our plan was anyway until 2028. In 25-26-27-28, there will be 4 reactors, our goal is to put all 4 reactors into operation by the end of 2028 and to meet 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs from Akkuyu. And in this way, our country will avoid 35,000,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions,” he mentioned.
(information from CNA)
