Heydar Aliev – National Leader of Azerbaijan has been commemorated at a ceremony on occasion of his 93rd Birthday Anniversary held by Hon. Mesim Hacıyev – Consul General of Azerbaijan to İstanbul. At the ceremony held in the presence of a crowded community, speakers told of the workings Heydar Aliyev carried out for the sake of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. In accordance with it, Dr. Akkan Suver made mention of the energy strategy of Heydar Aliyev.

The speech text of Dr. Akkan Suver is as follows;

The Energy Strategy of Heydar Aliyev

Dr. Akkan Suver

If Heydar Aliyev was alive today, he would be 93 years old.

13 years have already gone since he passed away.

It would not be groundless to state that the works composing the roadmap of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Alliance Project envisaged during his a-decade-long-lasting presidency term in Azerbaijan have constituted the corner stone of the policies being implemented today.
At his 93th birth anniversary, I would like to commemorate Heydar Aliyev with his energy strategy since the energy strategy architected by him has constructed the basis of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) of today. And if Turkey became gradually the heart of the Eurasia in the field of energy, it should not be forgotten that it is thanks to Heydar Aliyev.
The energy projects implemented from yesterday to today between Baku and Ankara have been the fruits of the energy strategy of Heydar Aliyev. The foundation of these projects had been laid through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline. Heydar Aliyev aimed to have realised all the energy projects together with Turkey. This goal has broadened Turkey’s horizons to be positioned as an energy basin in the region.
SOCAR is the most superlative example of it. TANAP is the breakthrough investment of this epoch. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Railway Project is a source of pride for the Eurasia. All these investments and projects have been foundation stones for the future relations of both countries. The solidarity constituted between Azerbaijan and Turkey has been his masterpiece.
Azerbaijan is Turkey’s largest foreign investment partner today; SOCAR, for example, is an investment worth 20 billion USD to be made between Azerbaijan and Turkey by 2018. Star Refinery to be constructed as a consequence of the most important joint-project taking place between both sides will save billions of USD related to the importation of Turkey as well.
By means of this project, the said refinery will provide with petro chemistry, energy, logistics and integration of distribution, thus, become one of the large scaled investments in the history of the Turkish Republic. Within the framework of the giant project, PETKİM Peninsula is going to achieve the position of the first Chemical Industry Park at the 100th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
TANAP – as the most cardinal part of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) and with a project cost expected to stand at 10 billion USD – is the new rising star of the giant partnership composed between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Via TANAP, the natural gas departing from Azerbaijan to Anatolia over Georgia will cross through Turkey from East to West, reach with its 1850-km length to Europe by 2018 and end in the heart of Europe by being integrated into TAP.
I would like to point out that Turkey possesses 12% stake at the TANAP project expected to meet the energy need of Europe by means of Azeri Gas and she has 20% stake at TAP Project as well. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway is another example of joint-business. Through this project, not only Caucasia will be integrated to Europe but also the Central Asia. This integration is the project of Iron Silk Road meaning the linkage of Pekin to London. All these projects cover a short period of time, yet a harbinger of the fruitful future.
The long and the short of it is that the cooperation taking place between Azerbaijan and Turkey through implementation of Great Works of this Century is nothing other than the energy projects having been architected by Heydar Aliyev, indeed.