Turkey going to sue Iran over gas price

PanARMENIAN.Net - In the absence of an agreement over the price Turkey pays for Iranian natural gas, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız has said the government is getting ready to sue the Islamic Republic in an international court of arbitration for a settlement that the two countries could not reach on their own.

According to Today’s Zaman, speaking to reporters in Kuwait on Wednesday, March 14, Yıldız said he was not suspicious of the Iranians' good intentions to resolve the matter bilaterally, yet Turkey remained with but one option after months-long discussions to that end proved futile. “The road to arbitration is being paved on March 16, and we will not wait for too long after that to file our complaint,” he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

Yıldız met with Iranian Petroleum Minister Rostam Qasemi on the sidelines of the 13th International Energy Forum (IEF) held in Kuwait City on Tuesday and that marked the latest of official discussions over the price Iran charges Turkey for its natural gas. The preparations for an arbitration application were already under way, and it became clear at the two ministers' meeting that, in Yıldız's words, “There was nothing left to discuss.”

“They told us that they had a legal excuse [for not lowering the price] rather than talking about if the price was appropriate or not. Iran is our second biggest natural gas supplier after Russia, and there is a price difference [between the two suppliers],” Yıldız said.