Turkey signs 12 agreements with Turkmenistan

President Abdullah Gul and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov on Thursday had a tete-a-tete at the Oguzhan Palace and chaired the delegational talks and then relevant departments of the Turkish and Turkmen governments signed 12 cooperation agreements of great importance. Afterwards, the two leaders held a joint press conference, in which Gul recalled that he and Berdimuhamedov have visited one another five times each in the last five years and offered his thanks to Berdimuhamedov for his warm welcome and hospitality. Gul also pointed to the huge projects carried out by Turkish firms in Turkmenistan totaling $34 billion and declared that Turkmenistan and Turkey have established a new cooperation in natural gas, reiterating: "Turkmen markets will be open to Turkey and Europe through Turkey." Gul said that security and peace issues were at the top of their agenda during their talks, underlining that the two countries had similarities in terms of security issues. Stating that the cooperation between the two countries will be seen in natural gas as well, Gul said that Turkmen markets would be open to Turkey and Europe through Turkey. "Huge highway and railway projects are being developed for Central Asia to reach Europe through Turkmenistan," Gul added.