Turkey's Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz has announced the suspension of all state water and energy projects with Israel, the Turkish media reported today. He said, "At a time when we are focused on the humanitarian aspects of what Israel did, we can’t talk about commercial and economic matters. We won’t start any project with Israel until relations with them have been normalized.”
Yıldız mentioned the Manavgat water project, which is planned to transport 50 million cubic meters of water from Turkey to Israel annually, and a proposed extension of the Blue Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Israel, as examples of projects that were being suspended.
Yildiz stressed that the suspension does not include deals between non-government companies. According to the Turkish media this means that projects by companies such as Turkey’s Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Uretim A.S., which has natural gas agreements with Israeli companies including Ashdod Energy Ltd., Ramat Negev Ltd. and Solad Energy Ltd., can move forward.
Yildiz's statement intensifies the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey in the wake of the IDF's raid on the Turkish flotilla earlier this week when it attempted to break Israel's blockade.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 3, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010