Turkish Forum

Tag: Taner Yildiz

  • Azerbaijani president no fan of Turkey’s AKP, say US diplomats

    Azerbaijani president no fan of Turkey’s AKP, say US diplomats

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev is no fan of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to U.S. diplomatic cables made public Sunday by the WikiLeaks website.

    A report prepared Feb. 25, 2010, by a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, focuses on a recent meeting between Aliyev and William Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs.

    The document says Aliyev “made clear his distaste for the Erdoğan government, underscoring the ‘naivete’ of their foreign policy and the failure of their initiatives, including the loss of support for Turkey among traditional international friends because of Ankara’s hostility to Israel.”

    The Azerbaijani president reportedly noted that Erdoğan’s insistence on promoting Hamas and Gaza while Arab countries were notably silent on those issues had brought Turkey no benefits.

    In the same meeting, Aliyev reportedly said Turkey should demonstrate “constructive behavior” in regards to a gas-transit deal that was signed in June. Aliyev also professed to be worried that active Turkish-Russian cooperation could impede the deal’s progress. He reportedly confided: “Turkish Energy Minister [Taner] Yıldız recently told the head of the Azerbaijani State Oil Company, ‘Why do you want to ruin our relations with Russia? Do you really need Nabucco?’”

    The Nabucco pipeline is planned to carry natural gas from Turkey to Austria to reduce Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

    The leaked document adds that Aliyev made a gas deal with Russia to prevent Turkey from becoming an energy hub.

    “Aliyev spelled out the reasons Azerbaijan decided to sell gas to Russia last year, noting that ‘Moscow had asked’ and offered a good price for gas that was surplus anyway,” the cable read. “But the real reason, Aliyev confided, was that the sale illustrated to ‘our Turkish friends’ that they will not be allowed to create a gas distribution hub.”

  • Talks Begin With Japan For Nuclear Power Plant In Turkey

    Talks Begin With Japan For Nuclear Power Plant In Turkey

    241110 yildizTurkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said that talks began with Japan regarding the nuclear power plant which would be constructed in Turkey.

    Holding a press conference in Istanbul on Wednesday, Yildiz spoke positively about the course of talks with Japan on a second nuclear power plant planned to be constructed in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Sinop.

    Earlier this month, talks between Turkey and South Korea regarding the construction of nuclear power plant had failed. Also, under a separate agreement, Russia will build Turkey’s first nuclear plant on the country’s southern coast.

    Also commenting on reactions against hydroelectric power plants, Yildiz said that every country had to provide energy production with its own resources.

    The important thing is to pursue our determination in energy investments, said Yildiz, adding that they had to benefit from water, wind and geothermal for energy.

    Regarding natural gas, Yildiz said that he spoke with Russian Deputy Premier Igor Sechin on the phone yesterday, and invited him in Turkey. He added that they could hold a meeting in Turkey next month.

    Efforts are under way to evaluate 36 cubic meters of natural gas –which Turkey imports– under more appropriate conditions, he noted.

    AA

  • Turkey courts Japan after failure of nuclear talks with South Korea

    Turkey courts Japan after failure of nuclear talks with South Korea

    Istanbul – Turkey is seeking a new partner in the construction of a nuclear power plant on the Black Sea coast after talks with South Korea broke down, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday.

    Turkey was now looking to start talks with Japan after balking at the conditions set out by South Korea for the construction of the plant, Anadolu news agency quoted Yildiz as saying.

    The talks had stumbled on several issues – not only price, she was further quoted as saying.

    Turkey plans to build two nuclear power plants to meet its soaring energy needs.

    The plant that was discussed with South Korea – the second in the pipeline – is to be built near Sinop on the Black Sea coast by 2023.

    Russian firms won the contract to build the country’s first nuclear plant at Akkuyu on the Mediterranean Sea.

    That project, which will consist of four reactors with a total capacity of 4,800 megawatts, is estimated to cost 15 billion euros (20.5 billion dollars) and be completed by 2020.

    The plant has caused controversy, partly because it would be situated in an area prone to earthquakes, but also because Turkey’s plans for the disposal of nuclear waste from the plant are sketchy.

    via Turkey courts Japan after failure of nuclear talks with South Korea – Monsters and Critics.

  • Talks Between Turkey & S. Korea On Nuclear Power Plant Fail

    Talks Between Turkey & S. Korea On Nuclear Power Plant Fail

    yildizTalks that were carried out in Seoul on construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey failed.

    Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said, “We can’t reach a consensus with South Korea. Talks with Japan will begin at the end of the Sacrifice Feast.”

    Replying questions of reporters, Yildiz said both Turkey and South Korea share the same determination and intention regarding the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey but the points of disagreement could not be overcome.

    Yildiz said, “Some new reformative conditions had been offered. And, we declared reconsideration. However, we will start to hold talks with other countries. We need a quick negotiation process.”

    Taner Yildiz said their decision to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey has remained same.

    TRT World

  • Turkey, Venezuela set to cooperate in energy sector

    Turkey, Venezuela set to cooperate in energy sector

    Venezuelan President’s interest in Turkey is a stimulus for developing Venezuela-Turkey relations. Venezuela and Turkey are set to cooperate in the energy sector, and Turkish businessmen will support Venezuela’s development, TRT-Russian reported.

    Foreign Minister of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Moros met with Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Taner Yıldız in Ankara. Turkey and Venezuela signed a cooperation agreement in energy sector.

    In accordance with the agreement the two countries will cooperate in sectors of energy, agriculture, trade.

  • Iraqi PM in Turkey to seek support for new term

    Iraqi PM in Turkey to seek support for new term

    ANKARA | Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:21pm EDT

    (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a brief visit to neighboring Turkey on Thursday in search of support from around the region for his bid to retain the premiership in the next government.

    iraq pmIraq’s Arab neighbors and Turkey are keen that a new administration in Baghdad, still the subject of tense negotiations seven months after an inconclusive election, should include both the country’s major political blocs.

    Maliki met President Abdullah Gul in Istanbul before heading to Ankara, the capital, to meet Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. He had previously travelled to Iran, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

    “This is a short but a very important visit,” Maliki told reporters in Turkey, without elaborating.

    Locked in a battle for power with former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Maliki remains at odds with the Shi’ite Alawi’s secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, which narrowly won the most votes.

    Maliki, also a Shi’ite, has already secured crucial support from Iran-backed, anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

    Iraq’s neighbors are concerned that a Shi’ite-dominated government headed by Maliki might exclude the Iraqiya bloc. They are pressing for a “unity” government to include that bloc.

    The state of flux in Iraq has sparked concerns of a spike in violence just as the sectarian slaughter triggered after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion recedes and U.S. forces start to withdraw.

    Relations between Turkey and Iraq have been overshadowed in the past by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels who have used northern Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks into southeastern Turkey.

    But trade and diplomatic ties have blossomed, as regional heavyweight Turkey has sought to expand its influence in the Middle East under Erdogan’s AK Party government.

    On Wednesday, a consortium led by TPAO, Turkey’s state-run oil company, won an auction to develop Iraq’s Mansuriyah gas field near the Iranian border in Diyala province.

    TPAO’s partners are Kuwait Energy Company and South Korea’s Kogas.

    Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday investment in two Iraqi gas fields, the Siba and Mansuriyah fields, will be $3.2 billion.

    (Writing by Selcuk Gokoluk, editing by Paul Taylor)

    – Iraqi PM in Turkey to seek support for new term | Reuters.