President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız are planning to attend the opening ceremony of the 2015 European Games, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from June 12-28. Commenting on their visit, Yıldız said some negotiations would be conducted regarding the Turkish Stream pipeline project, which will transfer Russian natural gas to Europe via Turkey.
Yıldız said one of the most significant issues to be discussed with Russia concerned opening price negotiations for natural gas. Turkey seeks to negotiate to decrease the price of gas, which is bought from Russia, by 10.25 percent compared to the current price.
Commenting on the Turkish Stream project, Yıldız said Turkey had 780,000 square meters of land and 280,000 square meters of sea that can be used for the project. However, permission to use such land is required by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and they need to negotiate this matter in Azerbaijan, Yıldız stressed.
The Turkish branch of the Azeri energy giant State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), SOCAR Turkey, had announced that the sale of its shares in Petkim, a petrochemical firm, was cancelled due to market uncertainty. Yıldız said political stability was monitored mostly by international capitalists and investors, which is why SOCAR may have wanted to wait for the political, social and governmental situation in Turkey to become stable again.
Separately, Yıldız highlighted that the dollar rose by 5 percent against the Turkish lira after the general elections, which impacted the price increase of oil by TL 0.15 ($0.06). He also said the country's current 2.3 percent economic growth indicated Turkey would approach its targets.
