With Israeli forces stepping up their assault on the Gaza Strip and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continuing to ramp up his rhetoric against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ankara is nonetheless resisting calls to cut off vital oil deliveries to Israel.
Supertankers continue to deliver oil to Israel from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Oil pipelines from Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan terminate at the Mediterranean harbour, making Turkey a key oil supplier for Israel.
“The bulk of Israeli oil needs come from either Azerbaijan or Iraqi Kurdistan,” says analyst Mehmet Ogutcu of the London Energy Club.
“I think the latest figures show Azerbaijan provides around 40 percent of Israel’s oil needs. It comes all the way to Ceyhan, and from Ceyhan, it’s sent to an Israeli port where it’s moved to one of the refineries,” Ogutcu explains.
But with the death toll mounting from Israel’s invasion of Gaza, calls for Turkey to cut off oil deliveries are growing.
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, speaking with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara earlier this month, urged countries delivering oil to Israel to cut their supplies, a call Fidan ignored.
