Turkish newspapers have called Monday's ceremony 'the signing of the century' and have said that Turkey's cooperation in the long-delayed project might be the way for Ankara to gain ground on its EU bid at a time when Turkey's European journey has come to all but a standstill.

    A much publicised, albeit slightly awkward, high five between Turkish Prime Minister and European Commission President Manuel Barroso during the ceremony was all over Turkish newspapers and seemed like icing on the cake after Barroso said agreement over the terms of the 31 billion cubic metre pipeline would lead to a "new age in relations between Turkey and the European Union."

    The pipeline, which was planned to cut Europe's reliance on Russian gas after a 2006 row between Ukraine and Moscow that left much of Europe in the cold, has been marred by political infighting.

    Most famously Turkey has demanded rights to 15 percent of the pipeline's gas at a cheaper price in order to meet domestic needs or sell on to other countries.

    Turkey's decision to give up that demand, however, should create some pressure on Ankara's detractors to bring about the opening of at least the energy chapter of the negotiation process, said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

     "I think the Turkish government did the right thing because it demonstrates that we can agree on this, and it puts pressure on the (European) Council to open the energy chapter. The Commission can put pressure on the council because Turkey's energy sector has evolved."

    Analysts say a move such as the opening of the much-prized energy chapter would be a step toward helping Brussels and Ankara overcome other differences on reforms such as freedom of speech and the opening of Turkish ports to Cypriot vessels.

    Turkey, which has hoped its strategic value as a partner for Europe's energy security would outshine more endemic problems in its reform process, was enfuriated by traditional enemy Cyprus blocking the energy chapter earlier this year.

    Turkey began accession negotiations in 2005 but talks have been moving at a snail's pace in a climate of domestic political problems in Turkey and a reluctance among major EU states such
as France and Germany towards further enlargement of the bloc.

    Diplomats have said Cyprus has refused the opening of the energy chapter due to Turkish-led gas exploration in a part of the Mediterranean Cyprus claims as its own.

    Cyprus has been divided between its ethnic Greek and Turkish communities since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup aimed at union with Greece.

    Turkey's chief European Union negotiator Egemen Bagis however said that now that Turkey had withdrawn its demands from the pipeline consortium it was Europe's turn to make a move.

    "Still keeping the Energy Chapter closed makes one think," he told a group of mostly Turkish journalists.

    Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan angered Brussels earlier in the year when he made comments, later taken back, that Turkey would review its support for the Nabucco project if the energy chapter were not opened.

    Turkey has opened 11 of the 35 chapters or areas of policy it must harmonise on to join the bloc since it started negotiations in 2005.

Turkey's Alevis, some 15-25 million whose faith is rooted in Islam but mixed with other traditions including ....shamanism, form the country's leargest religious minority but they have never been recognised as a formal religion. This means they can be lumped together with Sunni Muslims, as a recent court case about the mandatory religion classes in state schools showed. The classes, taught in all primary schools, serve as an instruction guide to being Muslim, with topics ranging from how to pray in a mosque to fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

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Alevi Hatice Kose took the education ministry to court to win permission to pull her son out of the classes and change the curriculum to include information about Alevis. She won the case, but the government has said it has no power to change the classes, which it says are protected in Turkey's constitution.

For more on this, see our feature here. And here's the full slideshow from the Alevi prayer service pictured above.