Haggling in the Turkish Bazaar

For anyone that has enjoyed bargaining over a Turkish carpet in Turkey, or in my case a engagement ring, the experience is usually pleasant and filled with a lot of back and forth. Thus as the Jamestown Foundation reports via Reuter, negotations with Turkey and their bargaining position of 15% of off take from the Nabucco pipeline are still ongoing.

Yildiz was asked about the Nabucco Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek's earlier comments that Turkey's demand for "the 15 percent out-take is not on the table" (Reuters, May 29). In response, Yildiz insisted that Turkey's demand was still under consideration. After noting that lively bargaining was occurring, he maintained that the Europeans appreciated Turkish concerns. "They are not completely indifferent to 15 percent. The real problem is about its modality... It might be possible to exclude it from the intergovernmental agreement, and then regulate it under another agreement" (Cihan Haber Ajansi, June 3).

While the bazaar also offers alternative sellers of carpets to buy from, Turkey remains essential to the success of Nabucco. So let's not expect the Turks to go much lower.