Ankara, March 5, AZERTAC

On March 5, Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, participated in the opening ceremony of the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline via video link from Ankara.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed President Ilham Aliyev.

The two leaders posed for a joint photograph.

The national anthems of Azerbaijan and Türkiye were then played.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov stated that the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline project will not only diversify Nakhchivan’s gas supply but also contribute to the well-being of both the Nakhchivan and Iğdır populations. He noted that while the pipeline’s current maximum capacity is 730 million cubic meters, there are possibilities for future expansion.

Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar described the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline project as another symbol of Türkiye-Azerbaijan brotherhood. He expressed gratitude to both heads of state for making this project a reality, emphasizing that it will fully ensure Nakhchivan’s gas supply.

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The President of Azerbaijan addressed the ceremony.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. President, my dear Brother,

Dear participants of the ceremony,

Today is an important day in the history of Turkish-Azerbaijani friendship and brotherhood today – we are celebrating the opening of the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline. As mentioned here, together with the esteemed President, we laid the foundation stone of this gas pipeline in Nakhchivan a year and a half ago and are now participating in this wonderful ceremony.

As you may know, Nakhchivan is ancient Azerbaijani land. However, it has been separated from the rest of Azerbaijan for more than a century. The reason for this is that five months after the collapse of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1920, the Soviet authorities separated West Zangezur from Azerbaijan and annexed it to Armenia, thus interrupting the overland connection between the main part of Azerbaijan and its inseparable part, Nakhchivan. This injustice has lasted for more than a century and has had a very negative impact on the lives of our compatriots living in Nakhchivan. When the First Karabakh War broke out, Armenia occupied Karabakh and, at the same time, kept Nakhchivan under blockade. Their plan was to occupy Nakhchivan as well. However, my father, Heydar Aliyev, then the leader of Nakhchivan, did not allow this to happen, and all the people of Nakhchivan mobilized their efforts to defend Nakhchivan, protect their native lands, and push the occupiers back.

One of the reasons why Nakhchivan was not occupied at the time was that the “Umid” bridge, connecting Nakhchivan with Türkiye, was built, and the aid from Türkiye made a very significant contribution to the protection of Nakhchivan.

Today, Türkiye and Azerbaijan, two brotherly countries, are implementing huge projects. Oil and gas pipeline projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, and TANAP have not only connected our countries but also redrawn the energy map of Eurasia. Today, gas flowing from Azerbaijan through Turkish territory contributes to the energy security of many countries. Last year, Azerbaijan's gas exports reached 25 billion cubic meters, about half of which were exported to Türkiye. In addition to Türkiye, 11 countries, including 10 in Europe, are strengthening their energy security by purchasing Azerbaijani gas.

The project we are inaugurating today will ensure the energy security of Nakhchivan. The gas coming from Azerbaijan will be transferred to Nakhchivan through the territory of Türkiye in the form of a swap and will save Nakhchivan from this problem.

Our joint energy initiatives have also enabled the implementation of transport projects. Today, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which connects Türkiye with Azerbaijan, provides great advantages both for our countries and for a wider region. This transport link has tremendous significance and benefits, especially in terms of uniting the Turkic world. Naturally, the unity and brotherhood between Türkiye and Azerbaijan make a great contribution to the entire Turkic world. My dear Brother, the esteemed President, has played an immense role in the unification of the Turkic world. Under his leadership, Türkiye has achieved great successes and created new opportunities for closer Turkic unity. Azerbaijan has always attached great importance to the unification of the Turkic world and has spared no effort to ensure this unity, make it eternal, and establish relations based on common interests and shared history.

Today's ceremony is yet another testament to the unity, friendship, and brotherhood between Türkiye and Azerbaijan. It is a visible manifestation of this bond. I am sure that about 500,000 of our compatriots living in Nakhchivan will celebrate this occasion as a holiday today in the blessed month of Ramadan. On my own behalf, I would like to express my gratitude to our friends who contributed to this achievement. The construction was completed in a short time, in just over a year, and we are already participating in this wonderful ceremony.

Once again, I sincerely congratulate both of us—Türkiye and Azerbaijan—on this remarkable event and wish our peoples and states continued success. Thank you.

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Then, the President of Türkiye delivered a speech.

Speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

- My dear brother, President Ilham Aliyev,

Distinguished ministers, dear guests,

I am greeting you from the bottom of my heart.

I would like to express my great pleasure in welcoming my dear brother, President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, to Türkiye. I am saying to you and your valuable delegation– you are welcome to Ankara!

Standing in front of me are our brothers, workers and engineers who have contributed to this work. Inshallah, after our speeches, we will have commemorative photos taken with them for Türkiye and Azerbaijan.

Through my dear brother and his delegation, I would like to congratulate the Azerbaijani people on the blessed month of Ramadan. We are making tremendous progress in all areas of our brotherly relations, which are based on the slogan “One nation in two states”. The relations between our countries are continuously developing in a wide range of areas from defense to trade. It is beyond doubt that the energy sector, which we have crowned with many projects, is at the forefront of this cooperation. Just like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, which some consider a dream, we have managed to take our energy cooperation further by commissioning the Shah Deniz field and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline. We are experiencing the joy of delivering a large amount of Azerbaijani gas to Europe through the natural gas pipeline passing through Anatolia – TANAP. We are in full agreement with Azerbaijan on implementing strategic and extraordinary projects in this field.

Today, together with my brother Ilham Aliyev, we are very pleased to add a new project to this cooperation. The Iğdir-Nakhchivan natural gas pipeline, which we will soon inaugurate, will complement our previous strategic initiatives in the field of energy and also serve as a sign of our common destiny with Nakhchivan. This 80 km pipeline, built by BOTAŞ with a daily transport capacity of up to 2 million cubic meters, will meet all of Nakhchivan's natural gas needs for at least 30 years. Thus, my brother and I have delivered a project to our countries that will ensure the energy security of Nakhchivan for many years to come.

Taking this opportunity, I would also like to say that Türkiye and Azerbaijan are on the side of peace, stability and prosperity. We only want peace in our region, we want cooperation, and we want all of us to develop together. For this purpose, we have taken a number of steps and demonstrated how sincere we are. Inshallah, from now on, we are determined to implement all kinds of projects related to regional peace, prosperity and security together.

Just as we saw Azerbaijan by our side in our most difficult days, especially in the aftermath of the February 6 earthquakes, we will be by our brothers' side whenever they need us. Inshallah, we will continue this process by strengthening our electricity connections with Nakhchivan.

With these sentiments, I do believe that our ceremony today will further strengthen the Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood. I congratulate everyone who has contributed to the implementation of this important project, all our institutions for their attention, all those who contributed – whether they are employees or engineers. May God make our unity, solidarity and affection permanent. I do hope that this project will be of benefit to the entire region.

I would like to express my gratitude to my brother Ilham Aliyev for the visit on my own behalf, on behalf of my family and on behalf of my nation.

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Following the speeches, the Iğdır-Nakhchivan gas pipeline was officially inaugurated.

Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov and Türkiye's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar launched the gas pipeline in Iğdır.

At the end of the ceremony, a commemorative photo was taken.