Turkey opens TANAP pipeline
Deutsche Welle informs that on 13 June Turkey and Azerbaijan have inaugurated the TANAP pipeline, part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will bring gas to Europe while bypassing Russia. The project has won political support from both the United States and European Union.
"Our country is now one step closer to its vision to become a hub of regional energy lines thanks to TANAP," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in the central city of Eskisehir on Tuesday, dubbing the project "the Silk Road of energy,"- writes the inform agency.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attended the ceremony which saw the last section of the pipeline put in place.
As it s known, the 1,850 kilometer (1,150 miles) TANAP pipeline connects to the South Caucasus Pipeline, which pumps gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 field in the Caspian through Georgia to Turkey. Another section of the pipeline project, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is slated to bring gas from Turkey through Greece and Albania to Italy by 2020. The 3,500-kilometer Southern Gas Corridor will deliver 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters to Europe.
Alper Ucok, the Turkish Industry and Business Association representative to Germany, said TANAP shows how Turkey is a key partner in the EU's energy security. European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, who is in charge of the Energy Union, praised the inauguration of TANAP as a key milestone in improving energy security.
"By helping diversify our energy suppliers and routes, the Southern Gas Corridor is strategically important for the EU's energy security, including in the most vulnerable parts, such as Southeast Europe and southern Italy," he said.
Georgia's Prime Minister has resigned
The New York Times reports that the prime minister of Georgia resigned on 13 June in the wake of a series of antigovernment protests that have disrupted the capital, "citing disagreements with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the governing party and the country’s richest man."
The newspaper quotes Olesya Vartanyan, a Tbilisi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group, according to whom "both Mr. Ivanishvili’s return to politics and the protests were related to diminished public trust in Georgia’s government."
“The Georgian government has been in crisis for quite a long time,” Ms. Vartanyan said. “Mr. Ivanishvili’s comeback and popular protests are just symptoms of this process.”
Prepared by Marina Muradyan