ISTANBUL (A.A) - 25.06.2002 - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Tuesday that Turkey would become a transit country in providing gas to Southern Europe in a short time.
Speaking at the conference on ''The Stroy of Three Seas'' in Istanbul, Sezer said that Turkey would be an intersection for natural gas pipelines coming from all neighbouring countries.
Sezer noted that significant steps had been taken in intermingling Caspian, Black Sea and Mediterranean and connecting the enery markets in Eurasia, Middle East and Europe through the conferences which were initiated under the title ''The Story of Three Seas'' in 1998.
''Eurasia, Middle East and Searches for Energy Markets'' would be taken up in this year's conference, Sezer stated.
Sezer pointed out that they should exchange views on acceleration of efforts to integrate Caspian basin with European markets.
The concept of ''Eurasia'' became a political, economic and geopolitic reality after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990, Sezer said.
Sezer noted that this new formation brought new roles and responsibilities to Turkey and opened new horizons.
Within this framework, further improvement of Caucasian and Central Asian countries in respect of politics and economics and their integration with the West was one of the priorities of Turkish foreign policy, Sezer stressed.
Sezer said that East-West energy corridor project was developed by basing on the view that the economic development of Caucasian and Central Asian countries depended on transportation of energy resources to western markets in the short term.
''Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum natural gas pipeline, and Caspian natural gas pipeline projects are the backbone of the East-West energy corridor. We all remember that Turkey and the countries which took action together with Turkey were defined as dreamers in the days when efforts were launched to put into implementations these projects,'' Sezer said.
Sezer noted, ''however, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have done everything to implement the East-West energy corridor project which will transport energy resources in Caspian basin to the West together with the support of their allies. And, they have continued their efforts with will and determination. To this end, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to Mr. Aliyev and Mr. Shevardnadze, who have both exerted utmost efforts for these projects.''
Sezer indicated that the engineering works of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline have been completed successfully and there are plans to start the construction of the pipeline in the coming days.
He said that a number of international oil companies started talks to join the sponsor group after realizing the commercial value of the project. He remarked that Italian ENI company and French TOTAL-FINA-ELF companies already finalized the talks and participated in the project with shares of five percent. The president said that he hoped there would be other big companies supporting the project.
Sezer said that there are also works to add a point in Kazakhstan to the project and rename the project as Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
''Turkey is shaping its energy strategy by taking into consideration the energy demand,'' he continued. ''Azerbaijani natural gas is important for adding variety to our natural gas sources and maintaining our energy safety. Therefore it is important for us to complete the pipeline as soon as possible and transporting the Azerbaijani gas to Turkey. I would like to stress that Turkey would become an intersection of pipelines coming from all neighboring countries. Turkey will soon become a transit country to provide natural gas to South Europe.
Sezer remarked that the State Owned Turkish Pipeline Company (BOTAS) and Greek DEPA organization signed a document in March 2002 in order to connect Turkey's and Greece's natural gas network. The legal background to achieve this is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.