UPDATE 1-EU seeks future role for Gaz de France in Nabucco

(Adds details on conference, quotes)

ANKARA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The European Union's coordinator for the proposed Nabucco natural gas pipeline through Turkey said on Friday Gaz de France GAZ.PA, whose involvement Ankara opposes, should not be excluded from the project in the future.

Jozias van Aartsen, in Ankara for talks with Turkish energy officials, said the European Union was as eager as Turkey about the Nabucco project, a major plank in the bloc's policy to ease dependence on Russian gas.

The Nabucco consortium confirmed earlier this month that German utility company RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) will join the project aimed at piping gas from the Caspian to Europe. Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research), Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU, Turkey's state-run Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Romania's Transgaz are the other stakeholders.

Ankara opposes Gaz de France's involvement because of the French National Assembly's approval of a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered a genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.

Turkey is also upset about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Ankara's quest for EU membership.

"In the future, we should not exclude this company from the project," van Aartsen said in reference to Gaz de France.

But van Aartsen said the French company's involvement was not the main issue in his talks with Turkish officials and that the issue of pricing needed to be solved.

He said that the problem could be resolved within two weeks in talks between the EU and Turkey and he would return to Ankara in three weeks.