Tuesday, 9 November 2010
By Kasım İleri (JTW)
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources held a conference titled “Turkey’s Energy Vision” at International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010. The main focus of the conference was Turkey’s energy policies, projects, objectives.
The conference began with an introduction by the General Coordinator of USAK, Assoc. Prof. Sedat Laçiner. Laçiner, referring to the importance of such conferences, stated that these meetings provide a “macro-perspective” through the daily rush. Laçiner said, “sometimes it is not possible to see the whole picture as a whole due to some daily or conjunctural issues”. Se
dat Laçiner attracted the attentions to the energy problem and stated that the countries which have not solved the problem of energy are in a great danger. Laçiner stated that Turkey is in the middle of the energy ocean but has not benefited from this ocean adequately. According to Laçiner, the main issue to be dealt with is to be able to read the facts of “where were we”, “where are we” and “where are we going”.
Minister Taner Yıldız began his speech addressing to the importance of the research institutions such as USAK. Minister Yıldız stated that the outstanding societies which read, write and cooperate can produce the best and therefore he stated that that was why he granted a great importance to institutions such as USAK.
The motto of the speech of Minister Yıldız was “Turkey is a developing and improving country and it accomplishes this development with its mind.”
According the Minister Yıldız, energy is one of the most prominent arguments of the International Relations. Arguing that wile the urban population increases 1 million per week, 1/5 of the world population has not any access to the energy, Yıldız continued, “There is an impression that we are living in an extremely modernized world. However, in this extremely modern world 1/5 has not access to energy. The amount of energy that New York consumes is interestingly equal to that of the Saharan Africa with the population of 790 million except the South Africa. This is a great gap. Therefore, we have a problem to be solved by the countries with 60 thousands dollars GNP and the ones with less than 2 thousands dollars GNP together”.
Minister Yıldız gave a picture of energy politics in the world. Referring the data of IEA, he stated that although China, Russia and India structured in different paradigms, they will produce 80% of the energy. Thereof, Yıldız defined the prominence of Turkish geography as a lock point to bring the production sources in the east and the consumption sources in the west together. Yıldız defined the enormousness of the energy production sources with a comparison to countries such as Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and so on that have a production rate that can meet Turkey’s 90 years need. On the other hand, Europe is expected to import approximately 700 billion cubic meter natural gas till 2030.
Yıldız said, “Energy is a field which is influenced by the political stability therefore the correlation between political stability and energy should be taken into consideration”. According to Minister Taner Yıldız, sometimes politics is a burden of energy and sometimes energy is a burden of politics.
Minister Yıldız stated that there are many cases in which energy sector is painted into a corner due to international politics in our region and any event in the triangle of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan influences energy policies in Turkey as well as OECD countries.
Addressing to some environmental concerns, Yıldız criticized the NGOs which criticize the energy projects in Turkey: “Of course I am and should be concerned about the environment but the hands that pollutes and the hands that clean should be the same or in cooperation. There are NGOs which do not support energy projects due to geographical changes but they do not take the prominence that energy has gained in our life”. The Minister considered these protests as to be “political protests” instead of being “technical protests”. Minister Taner Yıldız attracted attention to balance between energy development vision and concerns for the environment by saying, “These NGOs look at just a part of the picture instead of the whole picture. Turkey as a country which has a 70 percent of energy import rate in a critical region has the right to find a solution for its energy problems using its natural sources. The more development in energy we see, the more attention we should pay to competition conditions, environmental concern and development of the world.” According to the Minister, Turkish government not only tries to pay attention to environmental concerns but also it tries to keep its international relations with the energy source countries in order provide “demand security”. However if Turkey produces its energy needs using its own sources, its position will be different.”
The minister stated that after the government “made the decision of developing” it found out that it had to apply liberal market policies because it was understood that the profit and providence rate of a year do not cover the development rate of the following year, and the conformity to the international capital required.
Talking about the projects that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources beholding in the Mediterranean, Black Sea Region and Caucasus, Minister Yıldız stated that in Turkey 15 thousands Megawatts of energy is in operation, 15 thousands Megawatts of energy is under construction and Turkey has the potential of producing another 15 thousands Megawatts; therefore, Turkey can produce three times more than it produces today and there is nothing more natural than using one’s own natural sources.
Taner Yıldız concluded the conference by saying that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources accomplishes the energy policies under three main points: (a) sustainable energy policies (b) taking environmental concerns into consideration, (c) finding the appropriate investors.
Source.turkishweeklyBy Kasım İleri (JTW)
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources held a conference titled “Turkey’s Energy Vision” at International Strategic Research Organization (USAK) on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010. The main focus of the conference was Turkey’s energy policies, projects, objectives.
The conference began with an introduction by the General Coordinator of USAK, Assoc. Prof. Sedat Laçiner. Laçiner, referring to the importance of such conferences, stated that these meetings provide a “macro-perspective” through the daily rush. Laçiner said, “sometimes it is not possible to see the whole picture as a whole due to some daily or conjunctural issues”. Se
dat Laçiner attracted the attentions to the energy problem and stated that the countries which have not solved the problem of energy are in a great danger. Laçiner stated that Turkey is in the middle of the energy ocean but has not benefited from this ocean adequately. According to Laçiner, the main issue to be dealt with is to be able to read the facts of “where were we”, “where are we” and “where are we going”.Minister Taner Yıldız began his speech addressing to the importance of the research institutions such as USAK. Minister Yıldız stated that the outstanding societies which read, write and cooperate can produce the best and therefore he stated that that was why he granted a great importance to institutions such as USAK.
The motto of the speech of Minister Yıldız was “Turkey is a developing and improving country and it accomplishes this development with its mind.”
According the Minister Yıldız, energy is one of the most prominent arguments of the International Relations. Arguing that wile the urban population increases 1 million per week, 1/5 of the world population has not any access to the energy, Yıldız continued, “There is an impression that we are living in an extremely modernized world. However, in this extremely modern world 1/5 has not access to energy. The amount of energy that New York consumes is interestingly equal to that of the Saharan Africa with the population of 790 million except the South Africa. This is a great gap. Therefore, we have a problem to be solved by the countries with 60 thousands dollars GNP and the ones with less than 2 thousands dollars GNP together”.
Minister Yıldız gave a picture of energy politics in the world. Referring the data of IEA, he stated that although China, Russia and India structured in different paradigms, they will produce 80% of the energy. Thereof, Yıldız defined the prominence of Turkish geography as a lock point to bring the production sources in the east and the consumption sources in the west together. Yıldız defined the enormousness of the energy production sources with a comparison to countries such as Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and so on that have a production rate that can meet Turkey’s 90 years need. On the other hand, Europe is expected to import approximately 700 billion cubic meter natural gas till 2030.
Yıldız said, “Energy is a field which is influenced by the political stability therefore the correlation between political stability and energy should be taken into consideration”. According to Minister Taner Yıldız, sometimes politics is a burden of energy and sometimes energy is a burden of politics.
Minister Yıldız stated that there are many cases in which energy sector is painted into a corner due to international politics in our region and any event in the triangle of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan influences energy policies in Turkey as well as OECD countries.
Addressing to some environmental concerns, Yıldız criticized the NGOs which criticize the energy projects in Turkey: “Of course I am and should be concerned about the environment but the hands that pollutes and the hands that clean should be the same or in cooperation. There are NGOs which do not support energy projects due to geographical changes but they do not take the prominence that energy has gained in our life”. The Minister considered these protests as to be “political protests” instead of being “technical protests”. Minister Taner Yıldız attracted attention to balance between energy development vision and concerns for the environment by saying, “These NGOs look at just a part of the picture instead of the whole picture. Turkey as a country which has a 70 percent of energy import rate in a critical region has the right to find a solution for its energy problems using its natural sources. The more development in energy we see, the more attention we should pay to competition conditions, environmental concern and development of the world.” According to the Minister, Turkish government not only tries to pay attention to environmental concerns but also it tries to keep its international relations with the energy source countries in order provide “demand security”. However if Turkey produces its energy needs using its own sources, its position will be different.”
The minister stated that after the government “made the decision of developing” it found out that it had to apply liberal market policies because it was understood that the profit and providence rate of a year do not cover the development rate of the following year, and the conformity to the international capital required.
Talking about the projects that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources beholding in the Mediterranean, Black Sea Region and Caucasus, Minister Yıldız stated that in Turkey 15 thousands Megawatts of energy is in operation, 15 thousands Megawatts of energy is under construction and Turkey has the potential of producing another 15 thousands Megawatts; therefore, Turkey can produce three times more than it produces today and there is nothing more natural than using one’s own natural sources.
Taner Yıldız concluded the conference by saying that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources accomplishes the energy policies under three main points: (a) sustainable energy policies (b) taking environmental concerns into consideration, (c) finding the appropriate investors.
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