Gul to meet with Aliyev, Sargsyan in Prague

President Abdullah Gul will travel tomorrow to Prague, the Czech Republic to attend the first Eastern Partnership summit and a summit of Southern Corridor, bringing together EU leaders to discuss the Nabucco project, a planned pipeline to transport Caspian natural gas to Europe via Turkey. Gul is expected to hold separate talks with his Azeri and Armenian counterparts Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit, an EU initiative to boost the bloc's ties with six ex-Soviet republics: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The initiative aims at boosting financial support from and cooperation with the EU in those countries, where Russia still casts a long shadow. Gul's talks with Aliyev and Sargsyan will focus on the ongoing reconciliation process between Turkey and Armenia, Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan, and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Turkey aims to normalize relations not only between Turkey and Armenia but also between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ending the Armenian occupation in the Azeri territory of Nagorno-Karabakh carries great importance in this respect, and Turkish leaders have reiterated in recent weeks that Turkey will not do anything that will harm Azerbaijan's national interests and will not open its border gate with Armenia before it ends the occupation. The Southern Corridor summit will focus on Nabucco, which has become a matter of great importance for the EU to ensure energy supply security and to reduce its dependence on Russia for natural gas following a payment row between Russia and Ukraine earlier this year. Ukraine is the transit nation for 80 percent of Russian gas exports to Europe. The standoff between the two countries resulted in several European countries being deprived of gas supplies for two weeks amid freezing winter temperatures. The Prague meeting, organized by the Czech EU Presidency, will bring together representatives of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, alongside the EU institutions.