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Matthew Bryza: â€œWe hope to buy part of 44 bln cubic meter gas which initiated to be transmitted to Europe from Azerbaijanâ€

25 June 2008 17:46 (UTC +04:00)

â€œTurkey is a bridge between East and West. Turkey has developed relations with Central Asia and Turkic Republics of South Caucasus, including economic cooperation. The US tries to assist new independent countries. Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev welcomed international investors to help develop the Caspian Basinâ€™s mammoth oil and gas reserves. Then-Turkish President Suleyman Demirel worked with these leaders,â€ he said.
The United States and Turkey worked together in pursuit of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (SCP) to connect Azerbaijanâ€™s oil and natural gas reserves with European and global markets. The East-West Corridor we had been building from Turkey and the Black Sea through Georgia and Azerbaijan and across the Caspian became the strategic air corridor, and the lifeline, into Afghanistan allowing the United States and our coalition partners to conduct Operation Enduring Freedom. Uzbekistan emerged as crucial in launching and then sustaining this multi-national effort from the airbase at Karshi Khanabad. Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan immediately offered blanket over flight clearances, while Kyrgyzstan allowed use of the Manas Airbase, which evolved into our crucial logistics hub for Operation Enduring Freedom after Uzbekistan rescinded U.S. access to Karshi Khanabad.â€ Our goal is to develop a â€œSouthern Corridorâ€ of energy infrastructure to transport Caspian and Iraqi oil and gas to Turkey and Europe. The Turkey-Greece-Italy (TGI) and Nabucco natural gas pipelines are key elements of the Southern Corridor. Azerbaijan provides the most promising near-term option for Turkey and the EU in its pursuit of diversified gas supplies from the Caspian Sea region. These two pipeline projects alone could provide Europe up to 44 billion cubic meters (BCM) of new gas supplies over the next seven to twelve years, of which 20 BCM (a not insignificant amount) will hopefully come from Azerbaijan,â€ he said. To achieve these goals, Turkey and Azerbaijan must work together.
â€œWe share our European Alliesâ€™ hope that Turkey and Armenia will soon normalize their relations. This will involve a decision by Turkey to restore diplomatic relations. Turkey can play an important role in resolving the conflict in Abkhazia,â€ he said.