Azerbaijan-Turkey Energy Cooperation: Back to a Strategic Agenda

Turkey and Azerbaijan had finally sealed agreements on the transit of Azerbaijani gas to the European markets through Turkish territory. This news might come as a natural development, as Azerbaijan and Turkey had the warmest relations in the region. Yet, for the past three years, the two sides were bogged down in difficult negotiations and at times seemed so far from a compromise that Azerbaijan started looking for alternative options to transport its gas to Europe. The obvious victim of a row between these countries would be the European Union, with its ever-growing thirst for natural gas and the increasing desire in Brussels to lower the dependence on the Russian gas. Development of new gas fields and pipelines turn Azerbaijan and Turkey into strategic and, most importantly, equal partners in a new era of economic development in the Caspian region.