Ankara watchful on oil accords with Iraq. -USA reiterated that Washington “doesn’t support oil exports from any part of Iraq without the approval of the Iraqi federal government.”

Turkey does not want to create any problems for Baghdad in oil deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as transparency will be key in talks to deepen energy cooperation between Turkey and Iraqi Kurds, a Turkish official told Hürriyet Daily News.
Turkey will continue energy cooperation discussions with the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government], the official said, stressing that Ankara was not “conducting any hidden work.”

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu conveyed this principle to Iraqi leaders during a recent visit to Baghdad, the official said, underlining that Ankara was continuing to stick to this principle. “Our position has not changed since before or after the visit of [KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan] Barzani to Turkey,” he added.

During the talks in Baghdad, Davutoğlu said Turkey was willing to conduct “energy cooperation with all of Iraq,” the official said, adding that both parties agreed to hold talks between the energy ministers of the two countries.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız will soon pay a visit to Baghdad, but the schedule is not clear yet, another official from the ministry told the Daily News.

Meanwhile, Yıldız was invited to an international energy conference in Arbil, but he will not be able to participate due to alternate plans, according to the official.

• The Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference 2013 is in its third year and will open on Dec. 1. Yıldız was unable to attend last year’s conference due to Baghdad’s last-minute refusal to allow his plane to fly directly from Istanbul to Arbil.

The Turkish government is determined to continue comprehensive energy cooperation with the KRG, but Ankara is also taking care not to harm bilateral ties with the Iraqi government amid recent rapprochement after a tense period of relations due to several issues, including energy cooperation plans between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey. The Iraqi Constitution does not prevent Turkish companies from making deals in the autonomous region, the official said.

• Barzani held three hours of talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Yıldız on Nov. 27 on comprehensive new energy deals between Ankara and the KRG.

The absence of any agreement or contract during a visit by the Iraqi Kurdish regional prime minister to Ankara did not stop Baghdad from hastily issuing a blunt warning over the dangers of any step that would pave the way for the opening of a new oil export pipeline from its autonomous Kurdish region, which is outside central government control.

• After two years of tension between the two states, Iraq warned that the opening of a new oil export pipeline from the KRG would seriously harm relations.

“The Iraqi government informed the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad of its strong opposition to signing the pipeline deal with the KRG,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s spokesman, Ali Mussawi, told Agence France-Presse.

If such a deal is signed, “bilateral relations between Baghdad and Ankara will be damaged severely,” Mussawi said. His comments came after Barzani said ahead of talks in Ankara that the pipeline could open as early as next month.

Al-Maliki also met with Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Faruk Kaymakçı yesterday.

Meanwhile, the United States reiterated that Washington “doesn’t support oil exports from any part of Iraq without the approval of the Iraqi federal government.”

• “We continue to urge the federal government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to reach a constitutional solution, and that has consistently been our position. And it also has not changed,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Nov. 27. 

 Sevil Erkuş
hurriyetdailynews.com
29/11/13
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• Iraq Warns Turkey Over Kurdistan Oil Ties.

Iraq is warning Turkey not to follow through on an oil deal with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is expected to start exporting oil to Turkey as early as next month.

Baghdad officials have voiced strong opposition to any energy deals between Ankara and the KRG, insisting that only they have authority to make energy deals, a claim disputed by both Ankara and the KRG.

According to Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar Carnegie Institute in Brussels, energy cooperation between Ankara and the KRG is deepening, and shipments could start soon.
"There has been, now and even very recently, a set of ambitious agreements between Ankara and the KRG regarding the leveraging of these oil and gas resources," he said.

Ankara and the KRG have, for several years, been negotiating a comprehensive energy deal, involving energy purchases, construction of pipelines, and resource exploration. Ankara sees the neighboring region's oil and gas wealth as a solution to its growing energy needs.
 

• Turkey has little energy reserves of its own and has been seeking to diversify its dependence on Russia and Iran.

According to Semih Idiz, diplomatic columnist for the Turkish newspaper Taraf and the Al Monitor website, concern over Turkish cooperation with the KRG is not confined only to Baghdad.

"One of the accusations leveled at Turkey because of its ties with the Kurds, both by Baghdad and Washington, [is that] it's actually in a divisive mode as far of the territorial integrity of Iraq is concerned," he said. "So I think Baghdad will be looking for steps from Turkey that reinforce that territorial integrity and not weaken it and not put it in question."

In a bid to alleviate those tensions, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, who met Wednesday with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to visit Baghdad.

Efforts to resolve tentions

Turkey's energy cooperation with the KRG has been a key factor behind years of tensions with Baghdad, but in the last few weeks there have been intense efforts to repair relations. Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu says those efforts have created a better environment to resolve differences.

"Among friends — neighbors among friends — there might be disagreements, but the important thing is to be able to have mature and meaningful dialogue, and I think that is what we have now the Iraqi government," he said. "Sometimes we agree to disagree, but we try to engage in a dialogue as much as possible."

Some energy experts say the KRG could eventually, with Turkish support, become a major world energy exporter. Such potential would not only play a crucial role in helping to meet Turkey’s energy needs but would also contribute to making it an important international energy hub, a strategic goal of Ankara.

Analyst Ulgen says with or without Baghdad’s consent, cooperation between Ankara and the KRG will continue to grow.

"Turkey's position is that Baghdad cannot continue to obstruct the deal between Turkey and the KRG. But it will be much easier and less problematic and much more predictable if Baghdad is also on board," he said. "But [Turkey] does not want to give the right of veto overall to Baghdad, because this is quite an important issue for Turkey to have this energy relationship in place."

KRG Prime Minister Barzani said this week the first oil shipments to Turkey could start by the end of the year.

Observers warn that gives little time to resolve the current impasse.  voanews.com 28/11/13 ---