THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 201308:17:52

Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz in Baku, Azerbaijan, 8 April 2013. | NEW EUROPE

Turkey waffles on Israeli-EU gas pipeline

BY KOSTIS GEROPOULOS | APRIL 10, 2013 - 9:03PM

BAKU - Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told New Europe that an energy project between Turkey and Israel could become “negotiable and doable,” following the thaw in relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv. “As long as the political feasibility gets there, in terms of energy projects the technical feasibility will be there,” he said on 8 April, asked about the possibility of constructing a pipeline along the coast of Turkey to carry Israeli gas to Europe. He was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Baku, focusing on Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Relations between Turkey and Israel thawed after US President Barack Obama’s visit to Tel Aviv in March which led to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologising to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan for the 2010 killing by Israeli marines of nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship.

Asked if the rapprochement between Ankara and Tel Aviv will affect the whole political situation in the East Mediterranean region, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan Matt Bryza told New Europe in Baku that he understands how, if Israel and Turkey seem to proceed with a pipeline, that would cause a lot of concern on Cyprus and its president, Nikos Anastasiadis, who has a lot of friends in the United States. “You need that Israeli gas together with the Cyprus gas either to make commercially viable a LNG (liquefied natural gas) facility or a pipeline to Crete and then to the rest of Greece. So it will be difficult,” he said, regarding the effect on Israel-Cyprus-Greece co-operation.

However, Bryza said that it’s entirely possible that there could be a pipeline that joins the gas from Cyprus’ Aphrodite field and Israel’s Leviathan and send gas to Turkey. “I know that it’s politically incredibly difficult right know, but economically that makes the most sense. And I think there is a way to make it work for the Hellenic community as well because some of that gas could go also to Greece,” Bryza said, adding that “Cyprus would have the power to shut off the flow of gas where it ever concerned Turkey was behaving against Cyprus’ interests. I think theoretically there is a grand bargain to be reached. Of course it’s very difficult politically”.

Asked if the EU becoming too energy dependent on gas transit through Turkey, especially if the project to carry Israeli gas to Europe through the country materialises, Bryza said the key is to make sure the EU uses its leverage over Turkey’s aspirations to become an EU member to make sure if this happened Turkey would behave as a free market player and not as a monopolist. “I believe Turkey’s ambition is not to control the flows but to be the hub that functions according to market principles and therefore allows Turkey to become more significant strategically,” Bryza said. “I think the leaders of Turkey realise if they just become another monopolist, they are not important to Europe. But they could be strategically important if they become a hub – like Greece could as well.”                         new  europe