Turkey gets closer to European Union via energy

Turkey is getting closer to the European Union, however, its European Union (EU) accession is still not realistic. The chances of Turkey have been improved by is its strengthening position with regard to EU energy and the active support of the Union. The EU is looking for ways of importing oil and gas from the Near East and the Caspian Sea with the aim of diversifying energy imports and decreasing dependency on Russia. Turkey is a natural crossroads between Europe and Asia and is therefore an ideal alternative to the current transport routes. The country is situated close to huge oil and gas deposits. Its neighbours own 72% of all the proven oil deposits and 73% of oil and gas. The new oil and gas pipelines also create competition to the traditional Central and European transit countries An east-west energy corridor that will connect central Asian and Caucasian fuel deposits with Europe has been referred to as the Silk Route of the 21st century. Turkey's importance as an European-Asian energy junction grew even further after the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Presidents of Azerbaijan and of Georgia Ilham Aliyev and Mikhail Saakashvili and the Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov ceremonially opened a new oil pipeline Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan (BTC). This pipeline, considered to be a diplomatic victory for the USA, transports Azerbaijani oil via Georgia to Ceyhan, Turkey where a modern oil terminal has been built. From there tankers can transport the Caspian oil all over the world. (author)