The diplomatic clash erupted after research showed millions of tonnes of crude departed the port of Ceyhan bound for Israel despite Ankara's May 2024 trade embargo. Deliveries via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline supply over 40 percent of Israel's imported oil, directly supporting military vehicles and aircraft. Turkish authorities deny responsibility for the sales, arguing that international consortium agreements govern the pipeline and that the national petroleum firm holds only a minor stake.
Key points
Turkey faces pressure to halt Azerbaijani crude transits that activists argue undermine i…: Turkey faces pressure to halt Azerbaijani crude transits that activists argue undermine its stated trade embargo against Israel.
Turkish officials claim legal constraints prevent them from managing final buyers because…: Turkish officials claim legal constraints prevent them from managing final buyers because the pipeline is operated by foreign consortia.
Deceptive maritime shipping maneuvers have allowed covert energy supplies to reach Israel…: Deceptive maritime shipping maneuvers have allowed covert energy supplies to reach Israeli refineries despite threatened legal actions.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Activist Greta Thunberg has called for an end to Turkish fuel shipments to Israel at the Cop 31 climate conference in Turkey’s Antalya, as a new report has revealed that 77 crude oil shipments left Turkish ports for Israel in violation of Ankara’s energy embargo.
Thunberg, who addressed a packed press conference on Thursday alongside activists from Nepal, Australia, Palestine and Canada, called on Ankara to “stop the transfer of oil and energy from its territory to Israel”, which she said is “directly fuelling the genocide of Palestine”.
Her comments came shortly after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in his opening address to the conference that Gaza has suffered "not only a genocide but also an ecocide", and called for the immediate entry of aid into the war-torn enclave.
COP31 President Murat Kurum told Turkish media earlier this week that Turkey did not invite Israel’s leaders to participate at the summit due to the mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza.
The campaign group Energy Embargo for Palestine (EFFP) told Middle East Eye that while they welcomed these statements and…
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