A plan to build a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey is being investigated as part of a major probe into alleged corruption at the Turkish energy ministry, a prosecutor said Friday.
"Inspectors are looking into tenders and projects, carried out by the energy ministry, among them the Blue Stream," prosecutor Talat Salk told Anatolia news agency, referring to the name of the pipeline project.
Salk, who is leading the investigation, declined to give further details.
The Blue Stream project is a planned 1,213-kilometer (758-mile) conduit, stretching from the southern Russian gas plant of Izobilnoy across the Black Sea bed to Turkey's northern port of Samsun.
In February 2000, the two countries began building the pipeline, which is scheduled to become operational this autumn and deliver eight billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey per year.
Once built, it will be the world's deepest gas link, reaching depths of 2,150 meters (7,095 feet) at some points.
Turkish authorities have launched a comprehensive probe into the energy ministry on suspicion of widespread corruption in tenders that reportedly cost the state millions of dollars.
The probe grew into a spat between Turkey's powerful military and politicians on Monday when a newspaper published remarks by an unnamed commander of the paramilitary gendarmerie who said it was not the energy minister but the gendarmerie which "pressed the button" to launch the probe.
Even though the gendarmerie command denied the remarks, the report unleashed a harsh reaction from Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, the leader of the governing coalition's center-right Motherland Party (ANAP) of which the energy minister is a member.
Yilmaz said the remarks were a ploy to depict politicians as corrupt, push Turkey towards military rule and undermine its accession process to the European Union.
His declaration triggered a harsh denial by the military on Thursday.
Yilmaz and Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer were among the main advocates of the Blue Stream project, which many observers have criticized as technically unfeasible. – (Ankara, AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
