ANKARA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijani president was positive about supplying Europe with more natural gas through Turkish territory, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, following a proposal by Russia to make Türkiye a gas hub skipping Nord Stream.
Erdogan made the remarks on his flight back to Türkiye following a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan on Thursday, Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Speaking of expanding the supply of Azerbaijan's gas through the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) in Türkiye, he said "I see that my brother Ilham Aliyev has a positive opinion on this issue as well."
More gas supply through TANAP could be on the agenda to meet Europe's gas demand, Erdogan was quoted by Anadolu as saying.
TANAP was commissioned in 2018 as the central part of the Europe-proposed Southern Gas Corridor connecting a major gas field in Azerbaijan and European markets.
Erdogan's meeting with Aliyev came after Russia proposed to make Türkiye a gas hub by expanding the supply via the TurkStream pipeline running through the Black Sea. The proposal came at a time when the Nord Stream pipelines transporting Russia's gas to Europe were damaged in a series of explosions.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after a meeting with Erdogan in Kazakhstan that Türkiye would be the best route for redirecting gas supplies to Europe.
Azerbaijan and the European Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding in July on the Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy, which will double the supply of gas from Azerbaijan to Europe by 2027. ■