English
9
Sep
0 Agenda

POLICY BRIEF Türkiye’s Energy Hub Ambitions: Strategic Priorities for 2025 and Beyond

POLICY BRIEF Türkiye’s Energy Hub Ambitions: Strategic Priorities for 2025 and Beyond
Strategic Report

Türkiye seeks to transform from an energy transit country into a regional hub linking Asian producers and European consumers. This brief assesses the current state of Turkey’s energy diplomacy and identifies four strategic priorities: accelerating market liberalization, expanding infrastructure, diversifying suppliers, and preparing for the energy transition....

Türkiye
POLICY BRIEF

Türkiye’s Energy Hub Ambitions: Strategic Priorities for 2025 and Beyond

TASAM Policy Brief | March 2025

Prepared by: Chiara Luong-Thanh

Executive Summary

Türkiye seeks to transform from an energy transit country into a regional hub linking Asian producers and European consumers. This brief assesses the current state of Turkey’s energy diplomacy and identifies four strategic priorities: accelerating market liberalization, expanding infrastructure, diversifying suppliers, and preparing for the energy transition.

Background

Türkiye imports over 98% of its natural gas, primarily from Russia (42%), Azerbaijan (20%), and LNG markets (27%). Its geographic position between Caspian and Middle Eastern energy basins and the European market provides a structural advantage for transit and hub development. Key infrastructure includes TANAP, TurkStream, and BTC, which collectively move significant volumes of oil and gas through Turkish territory.

However, Türkiye’s hub ambitions face constraints: BOTAŞ dominance limits market competition, internal infrastructure bottlenecks restrict gas flows, regional instability threatens project security, and global LNG expansion erodes the pipeline transit advantage.

Key Findings

1. Market structure matters as much as geography. Türkiye cannot function as a true hub without liquid markets, transparent pricing, and third-party access to infrastructure.

2. Supplier diversification remains incomplete. Despite progress with Azerbaijan, Türkiye remains heavily dependent on Russian gas and vulnerable to supply disruptions.

3. Regional instability is a persistent risk. Conflicts in the Caucasus, Middle East, and Eastern Mediterranean directly affect energy infrastructure security and project viability.

4. The energy transition creates new imperatives. EU decarbonization policies will reduce long-term gas demand; Türkiye must position for hydrogen and renewable energy integration.

Policy Recommendations

The following recommendations summarize the most urgent policy priorities for strengthening Türkiye’s energy hub potential.

Market Liberalization: Revise Natural Gas Market Law; establish an independent transmission system operator (2025 –2027)

Infrastructure Expansion: Increase storage to 10 BCM; expand east-west transmission capacity (2025 –2030)

Supplier Diversification: Advance Trans-Caspian negotiations; maintain dialogue with Iran (Ongoing)

Energy Transition: Develop a hydrogen strategy; engage the EU on carbon adjustment mechanisms (2025 –2035)

Conclusion

Türkiye possesses the geographic and infrastructural foundation for a significant regional energy role. Realizing this potential requires coordinated domestic reforms and effective diplomatic engagement across multiple fronts. The current moment, marked by European urgency to diversify from Russian gas and ongoing Caspian development, presents a window of opportunity that effective policy could capture.


 Click For the Related Document
This content is protected by Copyright under the Trademark Certificate. It may be partially quoted, provided that the source is cited, its link is given and the name and title of the editor/author (if any) is mentioned exactly the same. When these conditions are fulfilled, there is no need for additional permission. However, if the content is to be used entirely, it is absolutely necessary to obtain written permission from TASAM.

Content Categories

Top Authors ( 10 )

Areas

Continents ( 5 Fields )
Action
 Contents ( 487 ) Actiivities ( 223 )
Areas
TASAM Africa 0 153
TASAM Asia 0 244
TASAM Europe 0 44
TASAM Latin America & Carribea... 0 34
TASAM North America 0 12
Regions ( 4 Fields )
Action
 Contents ( 182 ) Actiivities ( 56 )
Areas
TASAM Balkans 0 95
TASAM Middle East 0 64
TASAM Black Sea and Caucasus 0 16
TASAM Mediterranean 0 7
Identity Fields ( 2 Fields )
Action
 Contents ( 176 ) Actiivities ( 75 )
Areas
TASAM Islamic World 0 147
TASAM Turkic World 0 29
TASAM Türkiye ( 1 Fields )
Action
 Contents ( 234 ) Actiivities ( 63 )
Areas
TASAM Türkiye 0 234

Most Read

Last Added

Contents

Article

Lasting security arrangements arise not from shared values, but from the recognition by the parties that they cannot eliminate one another.;
Article

The relations between Pakistan and Turkiye have been described as “Two Nations One Soul”. There is no denying the fact that both nations share linguistic, cultural, and civilizational affinities but the rapidly evolving regional geopolitics demands more than just symbolic rhetoric. Pakistan-Türkiye...;
Article

The relations between Pakistan and Turkiye have been described as “Two Nations One Soul”. There is no denying the fact that both nations share linguistic, cultural, and civilizational affinities but the rapidly evolving regional geopolitics demands more than just symbolic rhetoric. Pakistan-Türkiye...;
Article

Semiconductors (and computer chips) are essential for many electronics, development of the Information and Technology (IT) industry as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Electric Vehicles (EV) and Drones. Maintaining a stable chip design and manufacturing capacity is essential to address potent...;
Article

When silence fell over the Strait of Hormuz and Washington and Tehran reached an uneasy ceasefire in April 2026, India wasted little time. India's Foreign Minister was in Abu Dhabi reviewing the strategic partnership with the United Arab Emirates. Medical shipments to Iran had been dispatched. ;
Article

I selected 1000 ancient, basic words, including the 207−word Swadesh list. I found a 38.3% degree of commonality between Turkish and Russian. When only the words in the Swadesh list are taken as the basis, the rate of commonality rises to 45.4%. I identified and recorded close and striking similarit...;
Article

If NATO were to disintegrate, the first thing to be lost would not be a building, a logo, or the headquarters in Brussels. The first thing to be lost would be the sense of automaticity. ;
Article

Today, the emergence of such a law on the national agenda is a belated yet strategically extremely important step. Because the issue is no longer merely a matter of the law of the sea. ;

Raporlar