The Turkish President announced the start of gas transit through Nord stream on 8 January

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that commissioning of the gas pipeline "Turkish stream" is scheduled for January 8. About this Turkish leader said during the launching ceremony of the TANAP pipeline, through which Azerbaijani gas will come to Turkey and Europe, in Edirne on the border with Greece. Broadcast of the event led to Turkish TV channel NTV.

"of Course, we have another very important step that we do. On 8 January in Istanbul we start the gas pipeline called Turkish stream," said Erdogan.

In the ceremony of launch of TANAP gas pipeline was attended by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

"Today is a historic day ... This is an international cooperation project, which is now the southern corridor gas essentially 7 countries combined.

Erdogan said that the project of TANAP construction a symbol of the historic friendship between Ankara and Baku.

"the TANAP Project is first and foremost a symbol of the historical friendship between Turkey and Azerbaijan. This is a regional project aimed at strengthening peace in the region," he said.

the Initial capacity of the pipeline, which is seen as a possible competitor of the "Turkish stream" will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Of these volumes of 6 billion cubic meters will remain in Turkey and 10 billion cubic meters transported to the South of Europe.

"Turkish stream" — a new export gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black sea. The first string of the gas pipeline is designed to supply gas to Turkish consumers, the other for the gas supply countries in southern and South-Eastern Europe. The capacity of the first and second strings of the "Turkish stream" will be at 15.75 billion cubic meters each.