Terror and energy: The Caucasus, Eastern Mediterranean and Europe

Italian energy company Eni recently announced that it discovered a "super giant" natural gas field offshore from Egypt in what it said is the largest ever to have been found in the Mediterranean Sea. The company said in a statement that the discovery, which was also confirmed by Egypt's oil ministry, could hold a potential 850 billion cubic meters of gas in an area of about 100 square kilometers. It is said this could be one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

Eastern Mediterranean energy resources will come to the forefront as a political question in the upcoming days. The gas reserve that Eni discovered in the Egyptian territorial waters was officially announced after the permanency of Egyptian coup-maker President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's regime was ensured. Obviously, however, these gas reserves were also known during the time of former President Mohamed Morsi who made major economic agreements with Turkey just before the military coup was staged in Egypt. It was also discussed within the context of these agreements that gas exploration would be carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and Egyptian energy resources would be connected to the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). Now, the mystery of this largest-ever gas field is being unveiled: Morsi, who came to power through democratic means but was removed in a military coup, made cooperation agreements with Turkey like the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

It is remarkable that at the same time Turkey's stability is being threatened by the PKK terrorist organization. One of the reasons why the PKK threatens Turkey's stability with terrorism is to drive a wedge between Turkey and the KRG's Masoud Barzani administration. Apart from instigating terrorism, the PKK also makes nasty propaganda through Kurdish nationalism claiming that the Turkish state slaughters Kurds. Barzani, who understood the plan underlying this nasty war propaganda, said the PKK is not the political representative of the Kurds and it should lay down its arms. As Barzani says, for Kurds, the PKK is like what el-Sissi is in Egypt. The KRG has to cooperate with Turkey both for welfare and political legitimacy. Kurds cannot commercially open up to the West and the Mediterranean apart from through Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Turkish army has initiated a joint operation with coalition forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). This, beyond any doubt, is a major step in many respects and also very important for Syrian refugees in humanitarian terms. Today, it is an inevitable humanitarian necessity to create a safe zone along the Turkey-Syria border. People in the region have to lay claim to their own energy resources so that the region can achieve ultimate peace. That is why there are attempts to pit Egypt, the KRG, Cyprus and Turkey against each other on their own territories and to obtain energy resources in the Mediterranean.

It is estimated that gas consumption in the eurozone will reach 760 billion cubic meters by 2030, which indicates that the EU's dependency on energy imports will reach around 80 percent. In short, the EU's gas imports will increase to 240 billion cubic meters by 2030. The EU has to meet this energy deficit either from Russia or through the SGC that passes through Turkey. There is no other way for Europe.

The Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project is the most important and vital part of SGC - a corridor that will carry Azeri, Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean gas reserves to Europe through Turkey. When SGC fully comes into operation, energy monopoly, which is majorly supervised by Russia and Germany today, will be broken.

It should be noted that a monopolistic situation in a strategic commodity like natural gas, which can determine economic cycles, means the lack of democracy in the entirety of the region where that monopoly and monopolistic prices prevail. So, the fact that Azerbaijan and Turkey have started to nourish European markets in energy through the SGC will not only concern a price regulation in Europe, Turkey and Asia Minor. In this case, SGC is an economic and political equitation that means:

Energy safety. This also means democracy, peace and political stability in the region

New energy prices. This also means normalization not only in gas and oil, but also in all commodity prices that determine the world economic cycle

The region's integration in a peaceful way. This means a united hinterland starting from the Balkans and Eastern Europe and reaching Azerbaijan and Georgia through Turkey.

For all these reasons, the natural gas reserve that Eni claims to have found and was confirmed by the el-Sissi administration, cannot be an alternative to the SGC. Those who want to destabilize Turkey aim to put the SGC in place without Turkey. This is also a threat for Azeri energy resources, which constitute the backbone of the SGC, along with Kurdish resources in the KRG. This is a task assigned to the PKK that has recently resorted to terror once again, just like it was assigned to ISIS.