Iraq says Turkey rejects Kurdistan export pipelines

Turkish lira eases, Koc Holding down on cancelled tender

Fears

BAGHDAD, Feb 25, (RTRS): Turkey has told Iraq it will reject any extension of oil and gas pipelines from Kurdistan without the approval of the Baghdad government, Iraq’s oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi was quoted as saying by the state media network on Monday.

Iraq’s Arab-led central government and the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), run by ethnic Kurds, are in a long-running dispute over how to exploit the country’s crude reserves and divide the revenues.

Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control export of the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, while the Kurds say their right to do so is enshrined in Iraq’s federal constitution, drawn up following the US-led invasion of 2003.

“Turkey has officially informed Iraq it rejects extending oil and gas export pipelines from the Kurdistan region to pass through Turkey without approval from federal government,” the network quoted the minister as saying.

The Turkish energy ministry declined to comment on the statement.

Kurdistan’s Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said earlier this month the autonomous region was pressing ahead with plans to build its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, despite objections from the United States, which fears the project could lead to the break-up of Iraq.

Resource-hungry Turkey has heavily courted Iraqi Kurds, straining ties with the Iraqi central government.

Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki’s media advisor Ali al-Moussawi said Turkey’s rejection of the pipeline would help enhance bilateral relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which have deteriorated over the past year.

“The government welcomes Turkey’s move, which will significantly help to stablise the region and also strengthen relations between central government and Kurdish region,”” Ali al-Moussawi added. Ankara has been locked in a war of words with Maliki, a Shi’ite, since December 2011, when he ordered the arrest of his Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who took refuge in