Kombos to raise Turkish pipeline plan with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg
Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos will raise a planned gas pipeline from Turkey to the occupied north at the EU foreign affairs council on Monday.
Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos will raise Turkey’s plan for an undersea gas pipeline to the occupied north with his EU counterparts on Monday, the foreign ministry said. Kombos has travelled to Luxembourg to attend the EU foreign affairs council.
Government challenges memorandum
The government considers the memorandum of understanding between Turkey and the north illegal. The foreign ministry confirmed that Kombos will put the issue before the council.
The pipeline plan returned to the agenda in May, when Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced it.
Talks in Ankara involved Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and the north’s “prime minister”, Unal Ustel, who described the pipeline as the “project of the century”.
Route, cost and timetable
The planned pipeline would run about 97 kilometres under the Levantine Sea, from Alanya on Turkey’s southern coast to Kyrenia.
It is projected to become operational by 2028, at an estimated cost of €601 million.
The north has presented the pipeline as a route through which gas found in the eastern Mediterranean could reach Europe via Turkey.
Agreement under preparation
Ustel said an intergovernmental agreement was being prepared to move the project into its investment phase.
He said gas was “entirely a matter dependent on the decision” of Turkey and the north.
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