Expectations were high that the two countries would sign agreements to increase natural gas supplies from Iran during a key visit last week by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the talks failed to produce a deal. Some news reports said the failure to sign the deal was due to pressure from the US, which reportedly gave its blessing to the Iranian leader's visit in return for a promise from Turkish leaders that the energy deals, for which a preliminary agreement was already signed last year, would not be concluded. But the Turkish and Iranian sides have both insisted that the deals were not completed because more negotiations on the issue are needed.

"We are an independent country, and we have interests. What we do is to look after those interests," Güler told reporters when asked whether the US opposition had played a role in failure to sign the agreements.

He said a timetable was still being followed regarding negotiations with the Iranians on the technicalities of a deal. Lacking its own energy resources, Turkey relies heavily on Russia to meet its natural gas needs, and the government is seeking alternative suppliers to diversify its energy resources. But the US, which accuses Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, says the Islamic republic should be isolated and presses its allies not to strengthen their economic ties with Tehran. Ankara has said repeatedly that it has to consider ways to reduce its dependence on a single supplier in energy.

Güler said he and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will travel to Tehran in two weeks for more talks with Iranian officials. Asked whether the energy deals could be signed during his visit, he said it was too early to say. "We hope we will conclude the talks in one month," he said.

Last year, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to build a gas pipeline to transport up to 40 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe per year through a US-backed pipeline that would stretch from Turkey to Austria. The memorandum also foresees Turkish investment of up to $3.5 billion in three gas fields in Iran.

Güler said Turkey was conducting multi-layer energy diplomacy taking into account both its energy interests and relations with the US and Europe. But he emphasized security of Turkey's energy supplies was "above everything."

Güler stated that the Turkish side has prepared and sent to the Iranians an assessment of the planned investment in the three Iranian gas fields, adding that Iran would send its own assessment in response on Aug. 21.

Oil flow in BTC to resume soon

Ahead of his departure from Turkey on Friday, Ahmadinejad said he hoped the two neighbors would soon sign energy accords. Turkish sources have attributed the failure to sign so far to new demands from Iran on pricing and investment conditions.

Güler also said the flow of crude oil through a pipeline running from Azerbaijan to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which was halted when an explosion hit the pipeline earlier this month, will resume in the next few days. "Intensive repair work is under way, and the oil flow will resume in a few days if there are no other technical failures in the pipeline," he said.

Güler also noted that no evidence has been found as of yet to suggest that the explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was due to an attack. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

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