Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his country's commitment in a west-bound natural gas pipeline project which is considered as an alternative source route to the Russian gas for European markets, The Journal of Turkish Weekly.reported.
"No one should doubt that we, as the transit country, are ready to extend any support for the Nabucco pipeline project. The important things here are the route and the diversification of sources, in which Turkey has a positive stance," Erdogan told a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in Warsaw.
Nabucco is planned to be an alternative route to transport gas from Turkey to Austria through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. It is also an alternative source to the Russian supply.
The pipeline would carry gas from mainly Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz fields, as well as Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran. The construction of the 3,300-km pipeline is scheduled to start in 2011 and first deliveries are expected in 2014.