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News BP pipeline breaks Turkey’s Europe deal Campaigners and local Kurdish people have launched the strongest challenge yet to BP’s controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline [1]. They argue that the project compromises human rights and environmental protection, and violates Turkey’s accession agreements for entry into the European Union. The groups and affected people have made a detailed legal submission to the European Commission, warning that if it does not take action, they will consider legal avenues, including a court case at the European Court of Justice. According to the campaigners, the project’s legal agreements break EU environmental and human rights law, as well as Turkey’s EU Accession Partnership. The agreements exempt the pipeline companies from all Turkish laws that might affect the project. Turkey would also be obliged to pay compensation to the consortium if new laws were introduced that affect the profitability of the project [2]. The groups cite a legal opinion by barrister Philip Moser [3], an expert in EU law, in which he concludes that the pipeline legal agreements, "amount to a clear potential breach of what would be Turkey's EU law obligations, namely accepting the supremacy of Community Law." In their letter to the Commission, the campaigners state: "The Accession Partnership with Turkey is severely undermined by the construction of this pipeline. Turkey has agreed a move towards the Community acquis and the Copenhagen criteria, yet the pipeline project agreements represent a step in entirely the wrong direction. The implementation of this project involves actual and/or potential breaches of EU, Human Rights and International Law." Turkey has also undertaken to implement EU laws on environmental impact assessments (EIAs). However, the groups’ submission to the Commission points out that the project violates EU EIA requirements on nine counts, including failing to consult properly with those affected by the pipeline. The Complaint is supported by sworn affidavits from villagers affected by the project, who state that they been neither properly consulted or compensated, even though BP has claimed to have consulted everyone who will be affected by the pipeline. Accusations of human rights violations, particularly in areas with large Kurdish populations, have also dogged the BTC project. "These statements are only the tip of the iceberg", says Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project. "There are hundreds more people who are in the process of filing complaints about the way BP has failed to consult them about, or pay them for, the use of their land." Mr Yildiz added, "What else do you expect when BP’s plans took so little account of their rights in a politically repressive environment? It’s a tribute to these people’s bravery that they are willing to speak up in a climate so lacking in freedom of expression." [4] The European Commission has powers to act in the event of Turkey acting contrary to its accession agreements, including the capacity to freeze all pre-accession assistance [5]. "The European Commission is the Guardian of the accession process and must act in circumstances such as these, where the evidence of Turkey’s failure to comply with its accession obligations is so overwhelming," says Phil Michaels, legal advisor to Friends of the Earth. "We expect them to take appropriate action." The agreements were also recently criticised by an Amnesty International report, which said "The legal agreements signed by the Turkish government and the pipeline consortium effectively create a 'rights-free corridor' for the pipeline, disregarding the human rights of thousands of people in the region…. We must not allow this kind of precedent to be set, and the UK government should not lend British taxpayers' support to this." [6] This is the second legal obstacle to hit the pipeline. Last week a Georgian Court granted Association "Green Alternative", a Georgian environment group, the right to commence a legal action over serious violations of Georgian law which accompanied the government's green light for the pipeline's construction. [7] Also last month, the pipeline started the formal process for taxpayer funding, through the World Bank and European Bank of Reconstruction & Development – what BP has termed "free public money". [8] The two court cases will increase the pressure on new International Development Secretary, Baroness Amos. Amos is the minister responsible for the UK’s contributions to the World Bank and EBRD, and will have to decide how to cast the UK’s vote on whether to back the project. EDITORS’ NOTES: [1] The groups include the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Friends of the Earth, the Ilisu Dam Campaign and the Corner House, plus five Kurdish individuals living on the route of the pipeline in Turkey. More individuals are expected to join the action. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, if built, would carry up to a million barrels of oil a day from the Caspian Sea through Georgia to Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. UK oil giant BP leads the project, and is seeking around $2 billion in public subsidy from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and export credit agencies such as the UK’s ECGD. The BTC project has come in for extensive criticism for its human rights, social and environmental implications: for more on the critiques, see www.baku.org.uk [2] The project agreements consist on an Intergovernmental Government, plus a set of three Host Government Agreements. The preamble of the Intergovernmental Agreement signed between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the three states through which the pipeline passes, states: ". . . the Intergovernmental Agreement shall become effective as law of the Republic of Turkey and (with respect to the subject matter thereof) prevailing over all other Turkish Law (other than the Constitution) and the terms of such agreement shall be the binding obligation of the Republic of Turkey under international law . . . " The Host Government Agreement for Turkey contains a ‘stabilisation clause’, where if anything threatens the "Economic Equilibrium" of the Project, then Turkey and other states shall (HGA, Art.7.2(xi)): "...take all action available to them to restore the Economic Equilibrium established under the Project Agreements if and to the extent the Economic Equilibrium is disrupted or negatively affected, directly or indirectly, as a result of any change in Turkish law (including any Turkish laws regarding taxes, health and safety and the environment). …this shall include the obligation to take all appropriate measures to resolve promptly by whatever means may be necessary, including by way of exemption, legislation, decree and/or other authoritative acts, any conflict or anomaly between any Project Agreement and ... Turkish law." The agreements are available online at http://www.caspiandevelopmentandexport.com/ASP/PD_BTC.asp [3] Philip Moser, a barrister with the European Law Group at 4 Paper Buildings, Temple, is a widely acknowledged specialist in European Law. http://www.4pbeurolaw.com/ [4] A fact-finding mission report issued in May by many of the NGOs involved in the submission concluded that so serious is the level of political repression along parts of the pipeline route that freedom of expression effectively does not exist, fundamentally invalidating the idea or practice of consultation. See Corner House et al press release, ‘Controversial BP Pipeline Under Yet More Fire; Report Calls for Moratorium’ 4 May 2003 http://www.baku.org.uk/news04.htm [5] Council Regulation 390/2001 "on assistance to Turkey in the framework of the pre-accession strategy" establishes a system for the Commission to recommend that "appropriate steps" be taken in relation to pre-accession assistance to Turkey. Such steps include the freezing, or withdrawal, of such assistance. [6] Amnesty International UK press release, ‘Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project puts human rights on the line’, 20 May 2003 http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deliver?document=14542 [7] Green Alternative press release, ‘BP pipeline faces court challenge in Georgia’, 27 June 2003 http://www.baku.org.uk/news07.htm [8] BP Chief Executive Officer John Browne, quoted in Financial Times, 4 November 1998, ‘Wisdom of Baku pipeline queried’, p.4. See also Baku Ceyhan Campaign press release, ‘Amos moves into spotlight - public funding approval process starts for controversial BP pipeline’, 13 June 2003 http://www.baku.org.uk/news08.htm |
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