Energy ties with Turkey unchanged by failed coup: EU

By Nuran Erkul

ANKARA

Cooperation between Turkey and the European Union over energy continues and nothing has changed that, said Miguel Arias Canete, European commissioner for climate action and energy on Sunday.

Canete spoke to Anadolu Agency on energy relations between the EU and Turkey in the wake of the failed July 15 coup in Turkey.

Canete said that he got reassurances from Berat Albayrak, Turkish energy and natural resources minister, about Turkey's commitment to the Southern Gas Corridor.

"We are positive that this will continue to be the case, since the Southern Gas Corridor is mutually beneficial," he said.

Turkish people swarmed the streets on the night of July 15 in response to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call to defend against the coup plot by the Gulenist Terrorist Organization, or the Parallel State.

At least 240 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred during the failed putsch, and more than 1,500 others were wounded in the ensuing protests.

The Southern Gas Corridor Pipeline project, with an aim to carry Caucasian gas to Europe, is seen as a project that will reduce Europe's overdependence on Russian gas and help EU diversification of energy sources.

The project will include three major pipeline projects: the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia, the construction of TANAP across Turkey, and the construction of the TAP through Greece, Albania, and into Italy.