by BARIS DEMIR
A Palestinian university student was detained on Tuesday after protesting Turkey’s mediation of oil supplies from Azerbaijan to Israel during a panel discussion on Palestine organised by the state-owned English language broadcaster TRT World. On Thursday, three other people, including a Palestinian, were reportedly detained in connection with the incident.
Stating that two Palestinian protesters have been sent to the Repatriation Centre under the threat of deportation, the group Thousand Youth for Palestine continues its protest in front of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s Istanbul Provincial Administration to demand the release of their friends. The group’s members have been detained many times before for protesting the genocide in Gaza and the complicity of the Erdo?an government.
This persecution and the recent unlawful threat of deportation of Palestinian youth exposes Turkey’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Socialist Equality Group condemns this persecution and calls on workers and youth to mobilise for the release of those detained. The deportation of Palestinian youth to a country where a genocidal war is now spreading to the West Bank could have fatal consequences.
A study by Oil Change International reveals that many countries, including signatories to the Geneva Conventions on genocide, have supplied oil for the tanks and planes used by Israel in the Gaza genocide and are complicit in crimes against the Palestinian people.
The study analysed shipping records, satellite imagery and other open-source industry data to track 65 oil and fuel shipments to Israel between October 21, 2023 and July 12. According to the report, a total of 4.1 million tonnes of crude oil have been shipped to Israel since the start of the war on Gaza, and these shipments have continued uninterrupted since the International Court of Justice rulings.
Israel imports almost 99 per cent of the oil it uses. According to the report, Azerbaijan is the main supplier, providing 28 per cent of the crude oil going to Israel. Azerbaijan is followed by Kazakhstan and the African country Gabon with 22 per cent. These three countries meet three-quarters of Israel’s oil needs.
Turkey, Italy, Cyprus and Greece play a key role in providing transshipment services to Israel. As the terminus of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Turkey ranks first in terms of volume, accounting for 26 per cent of shipments to Israel. Cyprus follows Turkey with 21 per cent.
Turkey’s continued intermediation of Azerbaijan’s critical oil shipments to Israel and the persecution of protesters exposes the hypocrisy of the Erdo?an government’s response to the Gaza genocide.
President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his government’s first reaction after October 7 was one of caution and restraint. It called for a ceasefire and invited the Israeli state and Hamas to the table.
World Socialist Web Site for more