PIPELINE PROTEST at the Department for International
Development in London.
MONDAY JULY 14th AT 10.30am.
A section of pipeline covered with thousands of letters of protest will
be presented to DFID. Come and bring public consultation to the
institutions! Meet outside DFID's offices, Palace Street, London
SW1. For more information contact  alexp@foe.co.uk or phone 020
75661673

This will be followed at 2pm by a legal seminar: 'Does BP's Baku-
Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline break EU law and Turkey's accession
agreements?' at 11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1.

Leading human rights and environmental campaigners and local
people affected by BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline
recently made a detailed legal Submission to the European
Commission, arguing that the controversial pipeline compromises
human rights and environmental protection, and violates Turkey’s
accession agreements for entry into the European Union. The
groups and affected people have warned that, if the Commission
does not take appropriate action, they will consider possible legal
action, including a court case at the European Court of Justice.

A legal opinion by barrister Philip Moser, an expert in EU law,
concludes that the project agreements amount “to a clear potential
breach of what would be Turkey’s EU law obligations, namely
accepting the supremacy of Community Law”. The Opinion argues
that the Accession Partnership with Turkey is severely undermined
by the construction of the 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.”

In order to discuss the implications of the Submission, a seminar is
being held on 14th July at which the legal case will be presented in
detail. In addition to Mr. Moser, speakers will include:

Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Rights Project
Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House
Phil Michaels, Solicitor Friends of the Earth

Attendance at the seminar will be by invitation only, so please
contact  baku@gn.apc.org or telephone 01865 200550 if you would
like to go, and includes parliamentarians, potential financial backers,
oil industry analysts, journalists and environment and development
NGOs.