On the sidelines of the 23rd World Energy Congress held in Istanbul, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Berat Albayrak signed an agreement with TRNC energy minister Sunat Atun providing for the transfer of electricity from Turkey to North Cyprus via undersea cable.
The agreement signed between Turkey and the TRNC reportedly includes articles providing for renewing the electricity infrastructure in the TRNC, ensuring safety in electricity supply, establishing an interconnected system, carrying out common work in the field of renewable energy, mutually harmonising the laws in the field of electricity and producing common projects for discovering oil and natural gas resources and for establishing the necessary infrastructure.
Speaking after the signing in Istanbul, arguing that Turkey has become one of the strongest countries in the world and the region, TRNC energy minister Atun said:
“Turkey constitutes a strategic point in energy. Yesterday’s Turkish Stream project could be considered one of the biggest global openings in this sense. The TRNC and Turkey had previously signed a cooperation agreement in 2011 for the Turkish Petroleum Company to conduct explorations on land and in the seas in the field of hydrocarbons. Today we have come to the point of making a larger agreement. I see this as an historic opportunity from the point of view of taking our place in the global equation, through our motherland, by being interconnected with an energy system that exists at our side, at a point at which energy becomes more important, especially in the Middle East and brings more profits”.
Recalling that the water project signed with Turkey had materialised, Atun argued that this agreement prepared with a 50-year perspective includes a potential much bigger than Turkey and the TRNC. Asserting that with this agreement, the transfer of electricity to the southern Middle East area could be possible, Atun said:
“I wish that there could be another ‘Turkish Stream’ project to secure the transfer of water and electricity as well as gas to other points over the TRNC. I had made a call on south Cyprus, saying, let us establish a common transmission centre, let us be interconnected with Turkey and let us share this energy with them. I am repeating this invitation. We see that every day that passes the energy solutions which they have, lose value. The most appropriate thing to do is to connect the gas from the Eastern Mediterranean with a pipeline from Turkey. The gas will be connected from here and this could form another Turkish Stream. This could pave the way for a peace project. It could be a lasting solution”.
Afrika