Ankara, Ashgabat exchange messages on energy cooperation

President Abdullah Gul recently sent a letter to his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, expressing support for Ashgabat's policy of diversifying energy transportation routes. "Turkey supports the policy of friendly and brotherly Turkmenistan on the diversification of energy transportation routes," he wrote. "I am confident that by pursuing this policy, Turkmenistan, with its abundant resources, will make a significant contribution to transporting gas to Turkey, and through Turkey to the West." He added, "There is no doubt that the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline that took energy cooperation between Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China to a new level will also have a positive impact on regional development and stability." In his letter, Gul also said transporting Turkmen gas to the West through Turkey would strengthen Ashgabat's energy policy. Last month, Johann Gallistl, vice president of the Nabucco pipeline consortium, said energy-rich Turkmenistan could become a top supplier to fill the pipeline. The Western-backed, 7.9 billion-euro, 3,300-kilometer pipeline is aimed at reducing Europe's dependence on Russian gas. The pipeline is planned to run from Turkey through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and end in Austria, circumventing Russia. In a telephone conversation on Friday, Berdimuhamedov invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the opening ceremony of a new Turkmenistan-Iran gas pipeline designed to supplement the existing Korpezhe-Kurt Kui pipeline, which transports 8.4 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas to Iran. Erdogan, for his part, reiterated Turkey's expectation that Turkmenistan will support Nabucco.