UNDERWATER, ONSHORE, IN SPACE

In April, Türkiye launched a series of major regional projects to take the national economy to a new level on a global scale. Although almost all of them are implemented as part of Türkiye's Centenary concept, they will also indirectly contribute to the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's election campaign.

These global projects have a positive impact on the level of fraternal cooperation with Azerbaijan, as the presidents of the two countries mentioned in their speeches at the aerospace and technology festival Teknofest held in Istanbul.

Achievements in space

"Today Türkiye is the trade, energy, transport and political centre of Eurasia. Türkiye's importance and role are growing every day," president ilham aliyev said during his speech at the Teknofest, adding that a strong Turkish industry strengthens both Türkiye and its allies.

Indeed, in the last month alone, Türkiye has demonstrated remarkable achievements in implementing major economic initiatives in various fields and sectors.

For example, at the Teknofest, President Erdogan named the first astronauts in Turkish space history who will fly to the International Space Station this November as part of Axiom Space's third commercial astronaut mission.

"Our brother Alper Gezeravci, a heroic Turkish pilot who has made considerable success as an Air Force commander, will go to the International Space Station. Our brother Tuva Cihangir Atasever, a launch vehicle development engineer at Roketsan, has been selected as his backup crew member," Turkish president said. Atasever is of Azerbaijani descent.

Incidentally, in early April, Türkiye launched the first domestically developed military-civilian optical remote sensing satellite into orbit, IMECE. The satellite was launched from Space Force Base Vandenberg in California, USA.

Türkiye has long intended to become a leader in space, as the country's top leaders have repeatedly stated. Thanks to the creation of the Turkish Space Agency, research in this field has intensified. With the launch of the new fifth-generation communication satellite Türksat 5B, the number of active Turkish satellites in space has reached eight, five of which are telecommunication satellites. In space research, Türkiye has become one of the 30 countries in the world to have its own satellites in orbit.

Sakarya - start of gas supplies

The commercial development of the Sakarya gas field on the Black Sea was another historical event that took place in Türkiye in April. The project is implemented by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO). On April 20, the first 710 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from the field were transferred to the Turkish energy grid.

President Erdogan lit a torch at the ceremony to begin the gas supplies from the field and said, "The cost of natural gas needed for cooking and heating water, which is equivalent to an average of 25 cubic metres monthly, will be deducted from the bills within a year."

In the first phase, the facility will produce 10 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas daily;  production will be phased in. Five of the ten wells planned for commissioning in the first phase will be operational immediately after the ceremony. The others will be commissioned at the end of September 2023.

The second and third phases are expected to start in 2026 and 2028, respectively, including in the Amasra field. The first, second and third phases of the project will produce 10, 40 and 60mcm of gas daily. It is planned to supply all Turkish households with gas in the second phase of the project.

The project is extremely important for a country that is still completely dependent on external gas supplies. Proven gas reserves in the Black Sea are estimated at around 710bcm, which would cover 1/4 of the country's total gas consumption. At the same time, Türkiye will continue to purchase gas from other supplier states, including Azerbaijan. It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan has already provided 98.2bcm of gas to the neighbouring countries. According to General Director of SOCAR Türkiye, Elchin Ibadov, by 2023 the volume of natural gas transported via TANAP to Türkiye will be about 21bcm, and about 22bcm to Europe via Türkiye.

It is well known that Türkiye wants to become the largest gas hub in the region, and the Trans-Anatolian pipeline contributes the most to achieving this goal. Having its own field will strengthen the country's position in the fuel market. Black Sea resources are supposed to meet part of the local demand, thereby freeing up additional volumes for export in the future.

Akkuyu: contribution to nuclear potential

Another historical project to partially solve Türkiye's problem of uninterrupted energy supply is the commissioning of the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. The country has been moving toward its own nuclear programme for half a century. This year it achieved the success. On April 27, Türkiye officially joined the club of countries using peaceful nuclear energy. When operating at full capacity, Akkuyu NPP will produce about 35 billion kWh of electricity annually, thereby satisfying Türkiye's demand for up to 10%.

Akkuyu NPP is being built under the BOO (Build, Own, Operate) scheme, with Russia as the owner of the foreign NPP: Rosatom companies now own almost 100% of the capital in Akkuyu Nükleer. The cost of the construction project is about $22bn. The plant is expected to consist of four power units with a capacity of 1,200 MW each.

"Despite obstacles and smear campaigns, Türkiye successfully realised its 60-year dream of introducing green energy technology that developed countries have been using for years. The delivery of nuclear fuel to the Akkuyu NPP is a striking example of this," President Erdogan posted in Twitter.

He said that Turkish authorities planned to start discussions on two more nuclear power plants soon. The country's annual gas import costs will therefore drop by $1.5b, which would have a positive impact on the Turkish economy.

Istanbul Financial Centre

On April 17, Türkiye demonstrated yet another mega-achievement – the inauguration of the long-awaited business district in Istanbul, which promises to make the Turkish metropolis one of the world's most important financial hubs. The Istanbul Financial Centre (IFC) was launched under the leadership of President Erdogan.

According to him, IFC will help the metropolis connect the world's financial markets. "The centre will create a new financial ecosystem in Istanbul, located at the crossroads of two continents. We believe Istanbul, which has historically served as both a geographical and trade bridge between the East and the West, will now help establish the same connection between the financial markets," Sabah quoted President Erdogan.

The centre will host most of Türkiye's prominent financial institutions and authorities, including the Central Bank, Istanbul Stock Exchange, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and the Capital Markets Council of Türkiye.

Financial centres are traditionally located in important cities around the world that are key to the global economy, culture and politics. These include London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Singapore. Financial centres have considerable advantages, from which Istanbul will now also benefit.

They offer new opportunities for growth and entrepreneurship and concentrate the necessary infrastructure and resources in one place. Istanbul will thus become an attractive hub for international financial institutions and banks. This will allow it to become one of the world's leading financial centres, and accelerate Türkiye's integration into global markets.

In addition, the centre will help implement plans to create a single financial field between the Turkic states and strengthen cooperation between their financial market actors.

Undoubtedly, all the above projects are great importance for strengthening Türkiye's regional position and the growth of its economic parameters. This is important for Azerbaijan as well, which is more closely connected with this country both politically and economically - industrialisation in Türkiye and the development of various innovative areas allow us to transfer this experience to us. In addition, the growing Turkish economy creates more opportunities for the growth of mutual trade turnover and accelerates the process of joint integration into various spheres of the global economy.

SOCAR's investment in Türkiye's Petkim reaches $1.6b

SOCAR Türkiye Enerji has invested a total of $1.6b in the development of the Turkish petrochemical complex Petkim Petrokimya Holding since 2008, president of SOCAR Türkiye Refining and Petrochemical Business Unit (subdivision of SOCAR Turkiye Enerji) and CEO of Petkim Anar Mammadov said.

"Since 2008, we have made significant investments ($1.6b) in many areas of Petkim's development, especially in digitalisation and innovation. The integration with the STAR refinery has increased the efficiency of Petkim," SOCAR Turkiye Enerji press release said.

Mammadov also said that Petkim made a net profit of ₺6.5b (Turkish liras) in 2022, breaking a record in its 58 years of operations.

"In 2022, Petkim's total sales increased by 70% to ₺49b compared to 2021, while increasing our cash assets to ₺13b. We exported $899m worth of petrochemicals to 78 countries. This success is due to Petkim's strong financial position, reliability and efficient planning methods as well as competent human resources," Mammadov said.

He added that Petkim has 15 production and 6 auxiliary plants, with an average annual gross production capacity of 3.6m tonnes and nearly 60 types of petrochemical products.

The planned maintenance works at Petkim will increase productivity by 20%, Mammadov said.