BERLIN, April 12 (UPI) -- Turkey's ambition to become an energy hub has been one of the major hurdles for new Europe-bound natural gas pipelines, an energy expert said Tuesday.

"Turkey doesn't want to be just an energy transit country," German gas expert Roland Goetz Tuesday told the foreign press corps in Berlin. "Ankara wants to dictate pipeline plans, and it wants to make a profit itself."

This desire, Goetz added, has led to problems for two very different natural gas pipeline projects -- Nabucco and South Stream.

Backed by the European Commission, Nabucco would bring Central Asian and Middle Eastern gas to Europe in a bid to diversify Europe's energy import structure away from Russia. South Stream was jump-started by the Kremlin to bypass traditional transit countries Ukraine and Belarus and transport Russian gas unilaterally to Europe.

What unites the pipelines is that they both run through Turkish territory.