Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar came to Mersin to participate in a series program. Minister Bayraktar, who first visited Mersin Governorship within the scope of his programs in the city, had a closed-door meeting with Governor Atilla Toros. Minister Bayraktar, who later attended the AK Party Provincial Advisory Council Meeting held at Suphi Öner Teacher's House, was accompanied by AK Party Mersin Deputies Nureddin Nebati, Ali Kıratlı, Havva Sibel Söylemez and Hasan Ufuk Çakır and AK Party Provincial Chairman Adem Aldemir.
'Türkiye'S ECONOMY INCREASED TO 1.8 TRILLION DOLLARS'
Speaking here, Bayraktar stated that the Turkish economy has reached 1.8 trillion dollars from 235 billion dollars and said, "We expect this to reach 2 trillion dollars next year. Turkey will become a much bigger and stronger country. Turkey has grown approximately 4 times in energy in 24 years. Both our energy production and consumption have increased. Therefore, we need more energy, but we have a problem in our country. Unfortunately, we always import energy. That is, almost 70 percent of the energy we use is imported. "We paid 96.5 billion dollars for energy imports in 2022. This import bill comes to us every year. Can you say this now? 'What if we don't import energy, the bill will decrease?'" He said.
'WE MADE A SIGNIFICANT REVOLUTION IN NATURAL GAS'
Minister Bayraktar, who also gave the good news that natural gas will be brought to Mersin's Çamlıyayla district next year, continued as follows:
"We made one of the important revolutions in the field of natural gas in Türkiye. In 2002, there was natural gas in only 5 provinces in Türkiye. Today, there is natural gas in 81 provinces. This year, we brought natural gas to the 1000th settlement, that is, to towns other than our districts. We will bring natural gas to the 1000th settlement. Our President said in 2002: 'I will give this clean, comfortable fuel of mine to ladies, all over Anatolia. 'We definitely need to take it home.' He laid out this goal. "We will have completed the natural gas supply, which was in 5 provinces that day, by bringing it to 81 provinces today, to Mersin, its center and all its districts, and hopefully to the last district in 2027."
'WE HAVE THE 4TH LARGEST FLEET IN THE WORLD'
Noting that Türkiye has become a country with the 4th largest fleet in the world, Minister Bayraktar said:
"We have laid enough natural gas networks to go around the world five and a half times. There are 250 thousand kilometers of natural gas pipelines underground. We have done these, but we say, 'We import this natural gas. We bring it from abroad, from various countries. Then let's be a country that searches for and finds natural gas on its own.' We set a goal 10 years ago. We set an ambitious target, but we set it with faith and set out to say, 'We will buy natural gas and oil with our own ships.' Now, together with our ships Fatih, Yavuz, Kanuni, Abdülhamit Han, Çağrı Bey and Yıldırım, we have become a country with the 4th largest fleet in the world. While they were telling us 'You can't search, you can't find it even if you search', we made the largest natural gas discovery in the history of the Republic in 2020 in the Black Sea. We called it 'Sakarya Gas Field'. In a very short time, a record time in the world, we produced natural gas in the Sakarya Gas Field and today we have become a country that uses its own natural gas in 4 million homes. Now we are moving to a new phase in 2027. Hopefully, the second phase will be completed in the middle of the Black Sea before 2027, that is, at the end of this year. We will light the flame tower of the Osman Gazi Floating Production Platform and 4 million households will increase to 8 million households in 2027. We will become a Türkiye that uses its own gas in 8 million homes. Therefore, while there are such major energy crises in the world, that is, in a world where you cannot find natural gas, oil or diesel even with your money, we will reduce our imports with our own gas and we will not have to worry about our supply security, 'Oh, my gas is cut off'. Türkiye is writing a great epic in natural gas. For some people, the Blue Homeland was a fairy tale. We have always said this: 'The Blue Homeland is a place where we wrote a legend in Turkish oil and natural gas exploration. Hopefully, we continue our searches in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. A few months ago, we sent off our ship Çağrı Bey from Mersin Taşucu to Somalia with a ceremony. "Now there is a Türkiye searching for oil in Somalia."
'NEARLY 4 THOUSAND OF OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE WORKING'
Stating that the oil in Gabar is approaching 100 thousand barrels, Bayraktar said, "Hopefully, we will share new discoveries and new good news with you in the coming days, but I have to say this; as much as its economic return, its contribution to that region, its social contribution, its employment contribution to young people, nearly 4 thousand of our young brothers are working in those mountains, in those projects. That is why, as Turkey, we must definitely complete the Terror-Free Turkey project successfully. I believe that with Terror-Free Turkey, the entire potential of that region and our country will be much greater." "It will come to this point," he said.
'Türkiye WILL TRANSFORM ITS 70-YEAR-OLD DREAM INTO REALITY'
Referring to the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Project, Minister Bayraktar said, "Turkey has become ready to produce electricity from nuclear power. In the next few weeks, in the coming months, hopefully Turkey will make this 70-year dream come true. It is the largest foreign capital investment in the history of the Republic, the largest project in a single field in the history of the Republic, with an investment of approximately 30 billion dollars, we will commission a stand-alone power plant that will meet 10 percent of Türkiye's energy."
'WE DECLARED TURKEY'S ENERGY INDEPENDENCE MANIFESTO TO THE WHOLE WORLD'
Stating that 500 billion dollars will be invested by 2040, Minister Bayraktar concluded his speech with the following sentences:
"Yesterday in Istanbul, we literally declared Türkiye's energy independence manifesto to both the Turkish public and the whole world. To be able to do this, we need 3 things. One of these is of course the need for a very large investment, that is, the total investment cost is 500 billion dollars, Turkey will invest in these areas until 2040. I am talking about a very important development move that will provide approximately 108 thousand direct employment and indirect employment for approximately 250 thousand people. The second thing we need is human resources, that is, We need to do this with our people, we need human resources with good engineers, technicians, drillers, but most importantly, what we need to do all this is political stability, a determined, strong, astute administration, a stable political will. That will is present in the AK Party organizations, under the leadership of our President, and hopefully we will continue to work day and night behind our President on this path, that is, on the path that will make Türkiye independent in energy.
