June 1st Press Review
TURKEY TO PRESIDE AT UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Turkey is today set to take over the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council from Russia for a month term. In related news, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday went to New York, US to meet his US counterpart Hillary Clinton, executives at the White House, Department of State, Senate and House of Representatives. Speaking to reporters before his departure, Davutoglu said that Turkey would take over the rotating presidency of the United Nations (UN) Security Council as of this month. Davutoglu described the presidency as an important and big responsibility and expressed Turkey's determination to be a fairly active president for a month. Stating that all international issues including Iraq will be discussed at the Security Council under Turkey's presidency for one month, he stressed that Turkey would do its parts within a month to actively deal with international issues, wherever they happen. /Star/
KEY AGREEMENT ON NABUCCO PROJECT TO BE SIGNED LATE THIS MONTH
A key intergovernmental agreement is expected to be signed late this month to launch the construction of the long-planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline project that will transfer gas from the Caspian basin to Europe via Turkey. After bridging their differences on the project in the last month's South Corridor summit in Prague, Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating term presidency, Turkish and EU officials, and other partner countries of the project agreed to sign the intergovernmental agreement on June 25 to start the construction of the pipeline on which the EU places great importance to reduce its dependence to the Russian gas by diversifying the bloc's energy supply resources. During the South Corridor summit, Turkey insisted on collecting a tax on the gas being pumped through the pipeline and demanded 15 percent of the transit gas at discounted prices but later agreed to a cost-based transit deal. A dispute earlier this year between Russia and the gas transit country Ukraine, which left European customers without supply for two weeks in the coldest days of winter, gave added urgency to the project. The US supports the project as well. The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline is a project of nearly €8 billion. The construction of the pipeline is scheduled to start in 2011 and the first deliveries are expected in 2016 with an initial annual capacity of 8-10 billion cubic meters. In its full capacity, the pipeline is planned to transport a maximum of 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. More than half of the pipeline is to be located in Turkey, making it the gatekeeper of Europe's energy supplies. Besides the Nabucco project, the efforts to carry out another pipeline project, the Arab natural gas pipeline that will transport Egyptian natural gas to the Middle East and Europe via Jordan, Syria and Turkey, are continuing. Turkey also plans to transport Iraqi natural gas to Europe. When all these projects are completed, Turkey will be the fourth biggest natural gas supplier of Europe, after Norway, Russia and Algeria. /Turkiye/
RUSSIA'S PUTIN TO VISIT TURKEY
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will host a meeting between Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan this Saturday in Moscow, is expected to visit Turkey on June 25. According to diplomatic sources, Putin's visit to Turkey is important in terms of relations between the two countries, as well as solving the Azeri-Armenian dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. /Cumhuriyet/
NORTHERN IRAQI OIL FLOW VIA TURKEY TO START TODAY
Northern Iraqi regional administration is set to start crude oil exports through Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline today. Defining the beginning of export as a historic moment, officials said two northern Iraqi oil fields will officially start pumping crude oil today, which will be transported by the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. This will be the first time for the northern Iraqi regional administration to export oil via Turkey. The regional administration and the Iraqi central government have long been in dispute over the management of oil fields. But a deal was worked out to allow the administration to ship oil through the government's northern pipeline, a major breakthrough in the dispute. As specified by the Iraqi Constitution, northern Iraqi regional administration will take 17 percent of oil income derived from the exports of northern Iraqi crude oil. The beginning of oil exports is also a sign of growing trust in the regional administration's ties with Turkey. The oil flow will begin at about 40,000 barrels per day and increase to 60,000 barrels per day by October. /Turkiye/
ISTANBUL TO HOST TURKISH-ARAB ECONOMY FORUM
The fourth Turkish-Arab Economy Forum (TAF'09) will be held in Istanbul on June 11-12. The forum will be held by Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group (AIWA) in cooperation with Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and the Arab league. A DEIK statement said that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, State Minister and Chief EU Talks Negotiator Egemen Bagis, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehmet Mehdi Eker, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) head Rifat Hisarciklioglu and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mossa are expected to participate in the forum. /Today's Zaman/
