The bank raised the upper level of the rate corridor to 9.0 percent from 8.25 percent, while the lower level remained unchanged - at 6.0 percent.

SOCAR Enerji Ticaret AŞ, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, will supply Turkey with 4 million cubic metres (mcm) of natural gas per day in February.

The contents of replies from the United States and NATO were not disclosed. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Washington had made clear its “core principles” and could not accept any notion of a Russian veto on NATO membership and on the choice of alliance partners to be made by Ukraine.

Armenia has dropped its opposition to the project – on grounds that a “corridor” would imply extra-territorial status -- and is now actively moving forward with it.