Turkey plans to cancel accord on importing natural gas from Iran

KUNA: Turkey is preparing to cancel an agreement to import natural gas from Iran signed in 1996 due to the Iranian insistence on not responding to Turkish request to decrease the Iranian gas’s price. The Turkish Jihan news agency said on Thursday that bilateral negotiations that kicked off after the Turkish premier’s visit to Tehran last year, aiming to modify the natural gas agreement, reached a dead end.
KUNA (Kuwait News Agency)

ANKARA – Turkey is preparing to cancel an agreement to import natural gas from Iran signed in 1996 due to the Iranian insistence on not responding to Turkish request to decrease the Iranian gas’s price.

The Turkish Jihan news agency said on Thursday that bilateral negotiations that kicked off after the Turkish premier’s visit to Tehran last year, aiming to modify the natural gas agreement, reached a dead end.

The Iranian party insists on not bringing down the price unless Turkey agrees to transport the Iranian gas to Europe across Turkish territories.

Turkey now reserves the right to cancel the agreement from one side, after Iran stopped pumping its natural gas for 70 days last winter without a previous warning.

Ankara became more interested in canceling the agreement after Tehran announced two days ago an agreement with Ukraine to market the exportation of the Iranian natural gas to Europe across Ukrainian territories.

The Turkish government plans to compensate the Iranian gas by increasing the amount of the natural gas imported from Russia through the blue line between both countries under the Black Sea.