Erdogan praises strategic, partnership relations between Azerbaijan, Turkey

/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

The strategic, friendly and partnership relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are developing at a high level, and SOCAR [Azerbaijani state oil company] projects in Turkey give an important impetus to the development of economies of the two brotherly countries.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made this statement at the meeting with Rovnag Abdullayev, President of Azerbaijan's energy giant held following the session of the economic dialogue with the international high-level investors in Ankara, where SOCAR also participated.  

The Turkish president inquired about the progress in implementation of projects, expressed support for the activity of SOCAR, noted the importance of investment and expressed confidence in the development of the company’s activity.

Abdullayev assured the Turkish president that all the projects implemented by SOCAR in the country will be high-quality and completed in a timely manner.

SOCAR president also thanked Erdogan for his support of the company, and said that work on all the projects is underway in accordance with the schedule.

The company owns a controlling stake in the Petkim petrochemical holding in Turkey, which is a manufacturer of plastic packages, fabrics, detergents as well as implements construction projects of the Star refinery and TANAP pipeline. After privatization of Petkim Holding in 2008, the company has been operating under brand name of SOCAR Turkey, which holds 48.64 percent shares in Petkim.

Recently, SOCAR Turkey Energy reported about 27 dismissed, after the operations against the movement of Fethullah Gulen underway in Turkey’s Petkim.  

Vagif Aliyev, head of the board of directors of Petkim, expressed confidence that Turkey will come out of this situation stronger.  "We are here with all the energy and want to announce the continuation of investment," he said.  

Some officials of SOCAR Turkey Energy also resigned. Among those resigned are Omer Adsiz, director of public relations department at SOCAR Turkey, Ilgar Mehmetoglu, director of the company’s human resources department, Cetin Korkut, director of the company’s IT department, as well as Fuat Ulagay, director of human resources department at Star refinery.

Korkut and a group of employees of the company are accused of having links with the organization Hizmet headed by Fatullah Gulen, Anadolu agenbcy reported earlier.  

The premises of Petkim were raided and documents were confiscated. Two hundred employees of the local petrochemical and energy complex are also accused of having links with Hizmet and have been subjected to legal proceedings.

In the recent message published at the website of the Petkim petrochemical complex, the chairman of the board noted that Petkim fully supports Turkish government, its economy and stability.

“The company will continue its activities for the benefit of Turkey and is ready to cooperate with the government,” the message said.

So far, SOCAR Turkey Enerji has invested $18 billion in Turkey and has opened more than 40,000 work places, becoming the largest foreign investor in the country.

Speaking at the meeting with the SOCAR’s president, Turkey’s Energy Minister Berat Albayrak noted that an inspection carried out by the Turkish government authorities in various companies, including the Petkim petrochemical complex, are not related to SOCAR’s activities in the country.

“After the events on July 15, Turkey’s government authorities are conducting inspections in a number of companies operating in the country, including Petkim,” explained Albayrak. “However, they are in no way connected to SOCAR’s activity, and are being conducted as part of common inspection of the events.”

The Turkish minister inquired about the implementation of SOCAR’s projects in Turkey, as well as the work on the projects, in which Turkish companies are involved in Azerbaijan.

He said that SOCAR’s investment projects are being implemented according to schedule, and the recent events in Turkey’s social and political life have not affected the progress of operations.

Albayrak added that all projects are being implemented in accordance with schedule.

The minister also noted that Azerbaijan’s state oil company is one of the biggest investors in Turkey and the country’s government fully supports SOCAR’s activity.