A thermal power plant in Syria, photographed in 2022. Photo: AFP.
Ankara says it will also supply electricity to the war-torn nation, enabling the extremist-led government in Damascus to ‘reconstruct’
Syria’s interim Energy Minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, announced on 9 May that Damascus and Ankara have reached a deal for Turkiye to deliver 6 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas per day to Syria within the next three months.
“I agreed with my Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar on supplying Syria with six million cubic metres of natural gas a day through the Kilis-Aleppo pipeline,” Bashir told SANA.
His statement came hours after Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told CNN Turk late Thursday that Ankara “will provide natural gas to Syria from Kilis within the next three months.”
“We have made rapid progress in Syria because our natural gas line has already extended to Kilis, near the Syrian border,” the Turkish official said. “We will effectively be supplying fuel to the gas power plants there.”
Bayraktar also noted that initiatives to deliver electricity directly to Syria alongside natural gas are underway. The Turkish minister stated Ankara is supplying about 200 megawatts to Aleppo and has finalized the required permitting for further exports.
“We plan to increase this by an additional 500 megawatts, aiming to reach between 700 and 800 megawatts of electricity exports in the coming months,” he explained.
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Bayraktar made the announcement hours after the Syrian Finance Ministry revealed that Qatar will provide $29 million per month for three months, with the possibility of extension, to help cover about one-fifth of public sector salaries.
Late last month, Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced that they would settle Syria’s $15 million debt to the World Bank, allowing the international lender to resume its activities in the country after a hiatus of more than 14 years.
Ankara, Doha, and Riyadh were key players in the 13-year war in Syria, alongside US intelligence agencies. The allied nations funded and protected extremist armed groups that, last December, finally toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad.
