Today's Zaman (Turquie) : "[Forbes] Turkey not to rule out Iran, Russia in Nabucco"

[Forbes] Turkey not to rule out Iran, Russia in Nabucco

Turkey's energy minister on Saturday said Iran and Russia may supply gas to an EU- and US-backed gas pipeline project in the future, even though the project is designed to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy and Iran is not a favored source.

Taner Yıldız made the comments during an interview with private NTV television, ahead of a ceremony on Monday when Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary will sign an intergovernmental deal to allow the pipeline to pass their territory. Turkmenistan on Friday said it is prepared to provide natural gas to the project, while Azerbaijan signaled a possible contribution, raising hopes of securing suppliers to make the pipeline viable. Turkey also regards neighboring Iran and Russia as future suppliers but it did not invite Tehran because of the ongoing standoff over the country's nuclear program. The United States says Iran's participation in Nabucco could only be possible after a normalization of diplomatic ties.

13 July 2009, Monday

http://www.todayzaman.com/tz-web/news-180701-forbes-turkey-not....