Azerbaijan, Baku, April 8 / Trend A.Tagiyeva /
Cooperation in the energy sector may become the result of rapprochement between Turkey and Israel. However, this cooperation is not the cause of improving relations between the two countries, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Taner Yildiz told reporters in Baku on Monday.
"We do not mind the cooperation with Israel in the field of energy. However, this should not be regarded as the cause of the normalization of relations between the two countries," Yildiz said.
Referring to the cooperation with Iraq, the minister said Turkey intends to increase oil imports from Iraq to 0.5 million tons. Thus, the import of oil from Iraq will amount to four million tons of oil.
The minister said Turkey will also continue to work with Iraqi Kurdish autonomy, but will not do anything without Baghdad's permission.
"Turkey intends to implement projects in many countries in the region, and in this sense we can not ignore Iraqi Kurdish autonomy," Yildiz said.
Earlier, officials in the Iraqi government criticized the cooperation of Kurdish autonomy and Turkey in the field of energy, naming it illegal.
According to BP, the oil reserves in the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq are estimated at 45 billion barrels.