Turkey stops electricity import
SOFIA (AP) – Turkey has canceled imports of electricity from neighboring Bulgaria, claiming it has not fulfilled its part of a barter deal, the Bulgarian Energy Ministry said yesterday. Turkey was the largest customer of Bulgarian electricity, with imports last year amounting to 4 billion kilowatt-hours, Diana Stoyanova, a ministry spokeswoman, said. Newspaper reports have put the revenue from the power sales at around $140 million, a figure the ministry refused to confirm. Turkish electricity company TEDAS canceled the imports at 11 p.m. Monday, saying Bulgaria had defaulted on a 10-year agreement stipulating contracts for Turkish construction companies in return for buying electric power from Bulgaria, Stoyanova said. Turkey said Bulgaria had agreed to hire the Turkish construction company Ceylan Holding as a contractor for two major infrastructure projects, three hydroelectric plants worth $220 million and a 120-kilometer stretch of an international highway, which have been delayed by the Bulgarians.
