Palestinians face deportation from Turkey for “Erdogan stop feeding oil to Zionists!” banner

Two Palestinian activists in Turkey reportedly face deportation for holding up a banner reading “Erdogan stop feeding oil to Zionists! End complicity on genocide!” during a talk show on Turkish public television broadcaster TRT News.

The activists, members of a group called 1000 Youth for Palestine,  were arrested in Istanbul on charges of “insulting the president” following the protest, according to a report from The New Arab.

At issue is what the activists see as Turkey’s complicity in allowing Azerbaijan to continue using the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to send crude oil to the Turkish Mediterranean coast from where it is shipped to Israel. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a voluble and harsh critic of Israel’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip, yet has not moved to stop the oil exports from close ally Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR to Israel on ships that leave from the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

"Erdogan, turn off the oil valves," said another banner lately carried by 1000 Youth for Palestine activists outside the headquarter of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul. 

"End your participation in Israel's genocide," read another.

As reported by Middle East Eye recently, Oil Change International, an anti-fossil fuel advocacy group, has assessed that 28% of the crude oil supplied to Israel between 21 October 2023 and 12 July 2024 came from Azerbaijan.

"Azeri crude is delivered via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, majority-owned and operated by BP," the group noted. "

Turkish officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to government protocol, told Middle East Eye that Ankara's responsibility was limited, with one saying: "We don't own the pipeline, BP does. It is Azerbaijani or Kazakhstan oil and we don't own them either."

The official was also quoted as saying that under a 2000 host government agreement, Turkey was unconditionally dutybound to enable the free flow of oil through the pipeline and if it prevented the oil transit, it would be made to pay substantial amounts of financial compensation. 

In another defence of the continued oil shipments, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters earlier this year: "The destinations of the ships departing from Ceyhan are not under our initiative or control."

Critics see that as a weak defence, arguing that if Israel is eventually found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a case that Turkey is loudly supporting, then countries that gave it vital economic sustenance during the period of the genocide could themselves be convicted of assisting in the committing of genocide. Acting on that concern could give Turkey a defence should it face any contractual arbitration over the stopping of the oil, they conclude.