NATO refuses to protect Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan and Baku–Erzurum pipelines
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

NATO has refused requests from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran for security equipment to help protect regional pipelines, according to Azerbaijani Prime Minister Abid Sharifov.

NATO has also reportedly refused requests to provide troops to protect the energy routes, and says that the issue is for transit and supplier states to discuss.
 
According to the Regnum news agency, Sharifov stated that Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran are in regular consultations to provide the pipelines security.

On October 30 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that protecting Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline is a question of defending economic and political interests of Azerbaijan.

He added that no incidents to threaten energy transit have so far occurred and that the energy routes are currently secure.

“The pipelines are totally secure in Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said, according to Regnum.

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