Silk Road Reporters: Azerbaijan Looks to Grow Energy Exports to EU

There are three slight clouds on this otherwise roseate horizon of an EU liberated from dependency on Russian natural gas imports. First is that the final structure of the proposed EU Energy Union has yet to be hammered out, and significant differing interpretations between Britain and Germany in particular have yet to be resolved.

The other two issues are more regional. Alieyv’s administration over the past year has come under increasing criticism worldwide for its human rights record and how much this could impact final gas negotiations remains to be seen.

Finally is the issue of security. The Caucasus remains a volatile place, and TANAP will transit Turkey, which has had a decades-old insurgency from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey also shares borders not only with Azerbaijan, but Georgia, which fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008 as well as Syria and Iraq, currently under assault by militant Islamic State militants.

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