IRAN THE "ONLY AND BIGGEST" LOSER IN THE BTC PIPELINE PROJECT
By a special correspondent
BAKU, 18 Sept. (IPS) "Our future generations would remember what
happened here today with outmost proud and gratitude", said Georgian
President Eduard Shevardnadze on Wednesday in the opening ceremonies of
the official launch of the construction of multi-billion dollar oil pipeline
that would take Azeri oil from Baku to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan,
via Tbilisi.
"But in Tehran, Iranians would remember this day as another Turkmanchay, in their history, and one of the Islamic Republic’s most shameful and unforgivable treachery and betrayal to future generations", pointed out Dr. Fereydoon Khavand, a respected Iranian economist teaching at Paris universities, referring to the 1928 Russia-Iran Treaty that formalised Iranian capitulation to Moscow’s demands, that included the possession by Russia of 18 cities in Caucasus that belonged to Iran.
"Of all the parties in the Caspian Sea region, only Iran stands to be the absolute loser and the United States the foremost winner. It is a big victory for Washington’s diplomacy and another black day for the Islamic Republic’s", added Dr. Khavand in an interview with Iran Press Service.
Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliyev, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and their Georgian counterpart broke ground for the 1.750 kilometres, BTC project at a ceremony at Sangachal terminal, on Azerbaijan's Caspian shoreline.
U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and a number of VIP guests and diplomats of foreign countries as well as representatives of the project-included nations assisted at the ceremonies, described by the three leaders as "historic".
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the project is scheduled for completion in early 2005. It will be the first major export route for Caspian Sea oil that bypasses Russia.
"Some tines ago in Istanbul, one talked about the tale of the three seas. Today, this fairy tale has become reality, as the Caspian, the Black and the Mediterranean seas are going to be linked with this pipeline", said Azeri President Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB high-ranking official.
"With an isolationist policy, continued hostilities with the United States and neglecting development of relations with its new neighbours in Central Asia and Caucasus, Iran has lost all opportunities for becoming the maim highway of transfer of the region’s energy to outside world", Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty said Wednesday on its Persian-language service commenting the BTC launch ceremonies.
"Lost in their childish internal conflicts of conservatives fighting reformists and happy with their death to America, the Iranian clerical rulers lost this big game and with that, deprived the nation of billions of revenues", Dr. Khavand said.
The project, which was signed in 1999 in Istanbul -- and is the first major work that bypasses both Iran and Russia --, was first proposed eight years ago, but has been delayed by political events and commercial considerations, including whether enough oil will flow through the pipeline to make it financially viable.
But experts said since Kazakhstan, which also has great energy potential, is considering using the pipeline, its profitability has become more likely.
"This project is one of the most important energy undertakings from America's point of view as well as for this region", Mr Abrahams said, noting that the pipeline would contribute regional strength and international energy security for mutual benefit.
In their opening speeches, the three leaders, all Washington’s allies, thanked the United States for its "vital support" of the project, as the BTC pipeline was chosen in preference to the Iranian or Russian routes, both, specially the Iranian option, considered by all experts, including Americans, as shorter, faster and cheaper, but were opposed by Washington.
Reading a letter from President George W. Bush dedicated to the occasional event, Mr. Spencer said: "The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is a central component of a new East-West energy corridor that will provide far-reaching benefits that includes attracting new investment to the region, enhancing global energy security, strengthening the sovereignty and independence of countries in the Caspian Basin, and bolstering these states' economic cooperation and integration into the global economy".
According to Mr. Khavand, the project, which is to enter operation by 2005 and transport more than a million barrels a day, would help both the United States and Europe to become less dependent on the Persian Gulf oil and gas, as the Caspian Sea is thought to hold the world's third largest oil and gas reserves, much of it still untapped.
"The West has not forget the oil embargo of the seventies by OPEC, the organisation that includes all major oil producers in the Persian Gulf, among them Saudi Arabia, world’s biggest oil exporter, but also Iraq, which is believed to have the second largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and also Iran", Dr. Khavand noted.
Realization of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline will guarantee secure transportation of the Caspian oil to European markets, the Turk President Nejdet Sezer observed.
"Turkey, already one of the world’s largest water power, is the second winner in the BTC project, as the pipeline makes this nation an important oil route between the Caspian Sean and Europe. It will enhance Ankara’s influence and power both in the region and in Europe", Mr. Khavand said, adding that Azerbaijan is another major winner, as it can export its oil to European markets.
Leading oil companies of Azerbaijan, USA, Turkey, Norway, Japan, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia participates in the project that has a special meaning. ENDS BTC PIPELINE INKED 18902