Turkey and the EU in an Energy Security Society by Dicle Korkmaz

Author:Dicle Korkmaz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030457747
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

4.3.1 Nabucco Pipeline

The Nabucco Pipeline, intended as a transit pipeline connecting Caspian and the Middle Eastern energy sources with the EU, drew considerable criticism about its impact on security of supply. Article 3 of the IGA stipulated the allocation of 50 per cent of the 31 bcm/y volume of natural gas to the shareholders (Bulgargas, Transgas, OMV, MOL, RWE and BOTAS) and the rest to third parties (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2009). If all shareholders were willing to buy gas, then their shares would be 2.5 bcm/y each, lower than Turkey’s imports of 39 bcm in 2009 (Enerji Piyasasi Duzenleme Kurumu 2010, p. 24), the year in which the IGA was signed. The deal was heavily criticised by some on the grounds that the agreement did not meet Turkey’s needs and made Turkey a transit state. For example, an MP from the MHP asked how much the Nabucco Pipeline would contribute to Turkey’s security of supply during Parliamentary discussions: “Is there anything related to Turkey’s security of supply? No. Is there anything related to natural gas supply? No … Let’s solve Turkey’s energy problem first” (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi 2010, p. 33). Similarly, provisions on exit points envisaging only one point of exit in Turkey for 2–3 bcm, two exits in Romania and one exit each in Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria (Akturk 2009a) were also criticised as contrary to Turkey’s security of supply. As one of the interviewees clearly explained, “the biggest part of the pipeline crosses Turkey but there is only one point of exit in Karacabey for Turkey. This does not meet Turkey’s own requirements” (interview, December 2011). These criticisms contrasted with the AKP’s argument that the pipeline would contribute to solving Turkey’s problem of security of supply (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi 2010, p. 77).

In addition to criticisms of the AKP’s pipeline politics in terms of security of supply, narrators also argued that pipeline politics was successful neither in ensuring cheaper gas nor establishing an energy hub. The metaphor of Turkey becoming a ‘traffic police in the highway’ was usually used to draw attention to a “transit” status in opposing narratives (Pamir 2007, p. 20). Furthermore, there was a disagreement with the AKP’s understanding that all pipelines crossing Turkey served as strategic tools to increase Turkey’s significance. Nabucco was criticised heavily within this context as the IGA stipulated the construction of a new pipeline from the eastern borders of Turkey to Austria without any re-export rights and at real prices. While the AKP considered Nabucco to be an integral part of increasing Turkey’s “effectiveness in the international arena in the field of energy” (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi 2010, p. 1), other narrators disagreed. According to Mehmet Gunal, then Member of the Parliament from the MHP, “Turkey should not be an energy corridor, an energy bridge. Turkey should be a centre of the energy market. … We are in a position of being a ‘transit state’ only” (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi 2010, pp. 34–35). Arif Akturk, a private sector

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