Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is finishing today his official visit to Azerbaijan.
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Speaking in the Azerbaijani capital on December 3, Davutoglu said the aim was to have the gas project completed before the planned 2018.
“No one can blame Turkey, no one can expect an apology from Turkey”, Mr Davutoglu said in the speech, which was televised on Turkish television.
This was the latest move by Turkey’s leaders, who are in an effort to diversify energy supplies as ties with its largest natural gas provider Russia have tumbled following the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey.
“We will work day and night and do whatever is necessary for TANAP project within the borders of the Republic of Turkey”, the Minister added.
Turkey insists the plane violated its airspace despite repeated warnings.
Russian Federation has retaliated by deploying long-range air defense missile systems to its base in Syria, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Turkey.
President Aliyev said that the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline is a project of Turkey and Azerbaijan, which the two countries started to jointly realize. The militants shot and killed the downed plane’s pilot while he was descending on parachute and also killed a Russian marine involved in rescuing the plane’s co-pilot.
Against the backdrop of a meeting between Turkey and Russia’s foreign ministers in Belgrade, Davutoglu called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to wind down bilateral tensions that have been building up in the last week.
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“I want to express to our business world that whoever is damaged by these sanctions, our measures to compensate them are already now ready”, said Davutoglu.
