TURKEY TO PURSUE TALKS WITH GAZ DE FRANCE

Al-arab online, UK
April 11 2007

Turkey has not suspended talks with Gaz de France over the Nabucco
pipeline project which would bring Caspian gas to Europe, Turkish
Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told reporters on Wednesday.

Senior Turkish energy officials had said last week talks with the
French company had been suspended in protest at a French bill on the
mass killings of Armenians during Ottoman rule.

"Nabucco is an extremely important project for us and the process is
continuing normally. Gaz de France has not been suspended from the
project," Guler said.

But he said economic, strategic and political issues, including the
French bill, would be taken into account when selecting the sixth
partner for the project.

The 4.6-billion euro ($6.14 billion) project envisages transporting
natural gas from Turkey to Austria, passing through Bulgaria, Romania
and Hungary and would reduce Europe’s dependency on Russian gas.

The four other countries have already approved a partnership with
Gaz de France in the project.

Austrian oil and gas group OMV heads the consortium planning to build
the pipeline.

Bulgargaz, Transgaz from Romania, MOL of Hungary and Turkey’s Botas
are also partners in the project.

Turkey remains angry at the French national assembly’s approval last
year of a bill making it a crime to deny that the mass killings of
Armenians during World War One amounted to genocide. The bill has
not become law.

Ankara rejects claims by Armenia and other countries that Ottoman
Turks committed a systematic genocide against 1.5 million Armenians
during World War One.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress