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CNN Saturday Morning News

Turkey Focuses on Regional Stability

Aired March 16, 2002 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now to the regional stability created with infrastructure and jobs. A lengthy oil pipeline is being built from the Caspian Sea all the way to southern Turkey. The project got the green light only after September 11.

Our Jerrold Kessel joins us now with more -- Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Really there is only one concept, one notion dominating things here in Turkey at the moment, and that is that concept of stability. It applies to various things, to the wariness that the Turks have with regard to any possible U.S. action in Iraq and that's what Vice President Cheney is likely to hear from the Turks when he arrives here in 48 hours.

But this concept of stability, you could almost call it a fixation with stability, is stretching, expanding to various planes and it is focusing on one new major oil pipeline which is seen as the symbol of regional stability.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL (voice-over): Oil trains head north towards Russia bearing freshly drilled oil from the old Azerbaijan fields. Old methods, old world, old channels for oil transportation. Just across the railway line, the old world is opening up to a new, a world aimed not so much at making the desert bloom but black. Work recently began here on the oil terminal from where Azerbaijan's new rich deposits deep beneath the Caspian Sea will be conveyed westwards to Europe. The route, a major regional pipeline that'll end in the Turkish Mediterranean port of Cheyhan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think and feel that after 11th, September 11, it will be more, maybe, attention for the stability in the Caucus region. It is the biggest project and it is very important for Azerbaijan's economy and not only for Azerbaijan's economy, but for Turkey and Jordan and for the economy of the world.

(on camera): It doesn't yet look like much, of course, but now that the work has finally got under way what you can hear over and above the noise of the heavy duty equipment is almost literally the audible sighs of relief, relief in several quarters, relief that the old doubts -- security, political, strategic and financial -- seem to have been laid to rest.

(voice-over): Right in the heart of Baku, the capital, oil is still being drilled in the old Soviet way. But the real focus has shifted out to sea, to the modern offshore rigs. For some times pieces in the strategic Caspian energy puzzle have slowly been falling into place. Now, the puzzle is complete, with agreement over the Baku-Jihan line.

A catalyst for that decision become what is now an ironclad reality, the events of September the 11th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the governments, and the Western governments clearly, I think it's helped them to clarify their views of this region, the importance of oil and gas coming from the Caspian region as another source of energy for the Western world.

KESSEL: When these Turkish bikers buzzed into Jihan with symbolic barrels of oil after driving the route of the 2,000 kilometer pipeline from Baku through Georgia, the idea that it would become one day a reality was still a pipe dream. For all that it was being strongly pushed by the Turkish government and enthusiastically endorsed in Washington.

Now, no turning back. The Azari oil is scheduled to begin flowing through the new line by the end of 2004, that first, 350,000 barrels a day, eventually up to a million a day.

(on camera): Rather like the constant swaying motion of the drill itself, a steady flow of oil through the new pipeline could also become a major factor for stability in the region, an attempt, you could say, to try to override the previous instability that was caused by those very intense arguments over whether the pipeline should be built at all.

(voice-over): A key factor which needed to change was Russia's opposition. The agreement on the new line is overshadowing the alternative routes from the Caspian north to Russia or westward to Russian ports on the Black Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia was against this project and they pushed us to have the main export pipeline through Russia. But after the 11th, the attitude of Russia will change, changed. And now they, I think so, that they have now a problem with this route.

KESSEL: The other key factor was when the multinational oil companies finally joined the ranks of the governments involved. Old misgivings rushing away as the commercial and political viability of the new line became the new reality. The commitment to the new oil line is now seen as a very tangible expression of the end of the cold war, a symbol of how an old world of competition and confrontation, hence instability, is giving way to a new era of cooperation and regional stability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL: So even if Mr. Cheney hears here in Ankara some misgivings, some weariness from the Turks about U.S. resolve to act against the Iraqi regime, to expand the global war on terror. When he comes to Ankara, there will also be discussions about making this pipeline the very factor in regional stability, and on that there'll be no disagreement whatsoever between Turkey and the United States -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, our Jerrold Kessel live there from Ankara, Turkey. Thank you so much.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we wish him well as his voice returns to him. Poor guy.

PHILLIPS: Yes, well, he's working too many long hours. He's losing his voice.

O'BRIEN: An occupational hazard, losing your voice in our line of work.

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