Even before the 13-year civil war in Syria, which led to the collapse of the 61-year Baath regime, has ended, countries have started to talk about the reconstruction of Syria, its oil deposits and the energy and trade routes that will pass through the country. One of these was the Qatar-Turkey Natural Gas Pipeline, which was rejected by Assad in 2009. The day after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured Damascus on 9 December, pro-government newspapers reported that the pipeline could be built. 

 

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alpraslan Bayraktar said that the pipeline project, which had been suspended due to the war, could be revived after the fall of the Assad regime. According to the Syrian Ministry of Information, on 12 December, a Turkish-Qatar delegation, including Ibrahim Kalin, the head of the National Intelligence Organization, and Khalfan Al-Kaabi, the head of Qatar's State Security Organization, met with Colani from HTS in Damascus.

 

The Qatar-Turkey Natural Gas Pipeline Project was envisaged to start from the Ras Laffan region of Qatar and reach Turkey via Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and then connect with the Nabucco pipeline in Ankara, from where it would be supplied to Europe. In 2009, however, Assad refused to sign this proposed deal and instead favoured an alternative Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline project more closely aligned with Tehran's geopolitical objectives. Another reason for Assad's rejection of this pipeline was that it would undermine Russia's supremacy in supplying natural gas to Europe. After the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Qatar-Turkey pipeline project became unrealisable, and with the overthrow of the Baathist regime, it was back on the agenda.

 

 

We talked to Cypriot journalist Aziz Şah about the natural gas pipeline projects in Syria and Cyprus and their impact on the future of these countries.

 

'PIPELINES ARE USED FOR SOCIAL ENGINEERING'

 

Noting that what happened to Bashar al-Assad is the second time in Syria, Şah said that in 1949, Shukri al-Quwatli was overthrown by a coup d'état after he rejected the natural gas pipeline of Arab-American oil companies to the Mediterranean Sea. Underlining that Syria was the intersection point in the Qatar-Turkey natural gas pipeline rejected by Assad in 2009, Şah said: "According to what I read in the Ukrainian and Turkish press and the pages of US and UK think tanks, it is said that 'Nabucco is coming back'. Nabucco may return, not in the same way, but in a different way. Colani said that they have 4 years ahead of them. Syria has to recover first. They cannot pass the pipeline before they are determined. At the moment, the pipeline dream is being sold again as a propaganda material. But there is a grain of truth in it, because that is why they overthrew Assad. I don't want to reduce all social transformations to pipelines, but pipelines are used for social engineering. Similarly, after China announced the Belt Road project in 2013, a jihadist uprising broke out in Myanmar. Problems that did not exist until then emerged. Because that was the point where the harbour where China would open to the Indian Ocean would be built. Those who did not involve the United Nations (UN) when children were dying in Yemen and Palestine, brought the issue to the UN when it came to the place where China was building a port."

 

'A DREAM WAS SOLD TO CYPRUS'

 

Stating that Cyprus has been sold dreams for years in this sense, Şah noted that the Eastmed Pipeline, whose agreement was signed in 2020, should be completed in 2025 under normal conditions. Stating that the line, which was originally to go in the form of Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Italy, was first shortened to Israel-Cyprus and then completely eliminated. 

 

"The project was declared a project of common European interests of the EU in 2013. However, in December 2021, the US sent an ultimatum-like text to Israel, Cyprus and Greece against the project it had previously supported. The US defended Turkey's interests, saying that this project was a source of tension. Only Turkey was against this project. Technically, the project could not be realised anyway. There are so many forces that can blow up a pipeline crossing the Mediterranean that its security cannot be ensured," he said. 

 

Stating that the Republic of Cyprus sees Eastmed as a trump card against Turkey, Şah continued as follows: "We are talking about a 50-year occupation, Turkey colonised this place. It is systematically committing war crimes and moving population to be permanent here. Not knowing how to end the 50-year occupation, Cyprus is wobbling. It is siding with the US and Israel. But these are Turkey's historical allies. They are trying to take a position against Turkey."

 

'NEW STRUGGLE BEGINS'

 

Stating that the struggle for pipelines has spread to a wider scope today, Şah said: "All the ongoing wars starting from Afghanistan are part of the policy of containment of Russia and China. One part of the containment strategy is natural gas pipeline projects. Today, a new area of conflict is being created, a new struggle is being waged over not only natural gas pipelines but also trade, transport lines, lines connecting Asia to Europe and even Latin America."

 

MA / Tolga Güney