Possibilites on the realization of the Turkish Stream project are open, Turkish Energy Minister Ali Riza Alaboyun said Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with the Anadolu Agency Editors' Desk, Alaboyun said Russia could renounce the project or could offer another alternative.
In his meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Oct. 2 in Istanbul at the G20 Energy Minister Meeting, Alaboyun said, "We had a friendly meeting with Novak. We don't have problems about receiving or sending natural gas. These are all about the contracts. We cannot say that 'we don't want your gas' just because we buy the Russian gas at a more expensive price than others."
Alaboyun said Turkey may buy Russian gas at more expensive costs than other customers, but added, if necessary, Turkey could also resort to recouping its losses with interest against Russia in an arbitration court in a case of unfair gas prices.
Turkey, which is the second biggest importer of Russian gas after Germany, agreed with Russia for 10.25 percent discount on natural gas prices in February 2015. However, Moscow did not apply this agreement to the prices. Moreover, Ankara asked Moscow to trim the price more and negotiations between the two countries on this issue are still continuing.
Alaboyun stressed that it will take time to decide on the Turkish Stream, as with the TANAP project with Azerbaijan which took around three years even when Turkey and Azerbaijan were considered 'one nation two countries'.
(Anadolu Agency)
