On September 20, 2010 AK News reported that Iraq and Turkey had signed an agreement that would prevent the Kurds from exporting natural gas to Europe. According to the article Istanbul said they would not allow any Kurdish gas sales through its territory without Baghdad’s approval. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) immediately condemned the announcement.
The Iraq-Turkey deal came as a result of the KRG signing a gas pipeline and distribution network contract with Germany’s RWE at the end of August. The Kurds are hoping that it will allow them to join the Nabucco project, which is to export gas from the Middle East to Turkey and Europe. The Oil Ministry threatened to cut half of its fuel deliveries to the region in retaliation. It has now gone a step further by trying to squash any Kurdish aspirations to sell its gas independent of the central government by blocking their exports to Turkey.
The dispute arises from an argument over who has the authority to sign natural resource deals, Baghdad or the KRG. This has led to a war of words between the two, and over a dozen contracts being signed by both sides. This latest tit for tat over natural gas is just the latest episode of this on going disagreement.
SOURCES
Ahmed, Hevidar, “Iraq and Turkey agree to prevent future KRG gas exports,” AK News, 9/20/10
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 21 Saddam paid Carlos the Jackal and PFLP to kill Saudi and Iranian oil ministers at OPEC meeting for supporting Kurdish revolt Ministers were taken prisoners but then released
1956 Communist uprising in Al-Hay put down and leaders executed ( Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq )...
-
Dr. Michael Izady of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs recently gave an interview to the Swiss-based International Relat... -
Professor Nadje Al-Ali is a professor of gender studies at SOAS, University of London. She has authored several books and articles... -
Recent media reports put into question the future of the U.S.-organized Sons of Iraq (SOI) program. Currently there are approximately 103,00...
No comments:
Post a Comment