Statements by U.S. Officials

Remarks by Matthew Bryza, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs,  Following a Meeting with Turkish Energy & Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler  

April 5, 2006, Ankara

DAS BRYZA:  Thank you for being here.  I am so happy to be back in the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources where, when we were working together with our ally Turkey on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, I had the good fortune to spend two, three, four weeks at a time in this building.  The outcome was very positive, and we are so pleased that Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is practically finished, and that the first oil tanker should pick up oil in late May.  This is the starting point of a truly strategic relationship we have with Turkey on oil and gas that we advanced today in the discussions that Ambassador Wilson and I just had with Energy Minister Guler.  We had a very strategic and collaborative discussion as partners, as allies, about how to work together to help the Euro-Atlantic community to diversify its supplies of natural gas and to ensure that oil can make its way to global markets working in partnership with Russia, with all the countries of the Caspian region, with Kazakhstan to avoid the Turkish straits for environmental reasons, for commercial reasons, for security reasons.  We are now moving forward together.  We discussed Samsun-Ceyhan in this context, and we discussed Burgaz-Alexandropoulos as well in this context.  I would just like to correct the record, too, with respect to Burgaz-Alexandropoulos.  There were some media reports in Greece that didn’t quote me exactly accurately.  The media reports said that the United States Government fully supports Burgaz-Alexandropoulos.  What we really support is the efforts by companies and countries -- including here in Turkey as well as in Bulgaria and Greece -- to find the most economically effective and successful pipeline projects possible to by-pass the Turkish straits.  There is a lot of interest in Burgaz-Alexandropoulos.  That is positive.  There is also a lot of interest in Samsun-Ceyhan, and that’s very positive as well.  So that’s all I wanted to say as a statement, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

QUESTION:  Sir, have you also discussed the Turkish ambition to build a nuclear plant?  If so, do you have (inaudible) for Turkey in terms of technology assistance? 

DAS BRYZA:  Today we didn’t talk about nuclear energy.  But of course we have very much in the past, and some American companies have been very interested in investing in the possibility of nuclear plants here in Turkey.  We have some discussions still to continue between our two countries, Turkey and the United States, on a few issues that have to do with nuclear technologies and nuclear power. 

QUESTION:  You talked about the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline as well as Burgaz-Alexandropoulos.  Does the United States have a particular preference regarding the straits by-pass projects? 

DAS BRYZA:  At this point, our preference is that there be straits by-pass projects.  Bulgaria and Greece, on the one hand, and Turkey on the other hand are all our NATO allies.  We care about all three countries very much.  But the key to realizing any pipeline project is how commercially competitive that project is.  Both projects have attracted interest from private companies.  It is the companies that will decide which one is built, or maybe which one is built first.  Maybe both will be built, because so much oil will be coming from the Black Sea region and the Caspian Sea.  Thank you very much.