Türkiye refutes accusations of oil shipments to Israel

Türkiye's Centre for Combating Disinformation of the Directorate of Communications has reported that the claim "Türkiye's trade with Israel continues", which appeared in some media outlets and shared on social media, is not true.

In a statement made by the Centre for Combating Disinformation, it was reminded that Türkiye completely stopped export and import transactions with Israel as of 2 May 2024, covering all products.

After this date, there are no customs declarations registered for exports and imports from Türkiye to Israel, the statement said: "The claim that ‘According to TURKSTAT data, it is seen that trade is still being carried out with 624, which is Israel's foreign trade code’ is completely false.

When TURKSTAT data are examined, it is clearly seen that the data in question are trade data until May 2024 and that there has been no trade with Israel since this date."

“Baseless” claims

Türkiye’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has also refuted “baseless” claims of oil shipments from its southeastern Ceyhan energy terminal to Israel.

The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that "no deliveries with Israel as the delivery destination have taken place."

BOTAS International manages the operations of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline in Türkiye under an international agreement with Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The company has "no authority or involvement in the purchase or sale of oil," the ministry stressed.

"Companies transporting oil through the BTC pipeline for export to global markets from the Haydar Aliyev Terminal have respected Türkiye's recent decision not to engage in trade with Israel," it noted.

No room for loopholes

Ankara ceased all trade with Israel, which amounted to some $9.5 billion annually, in May in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Turkish government has even taken measures to stop companies from misusing trade arrangements for Palestine. Firms could show Palestinian territories as the final destination for the goods but divert them to Israel instead.

To stop this practice, Ankara has implemented a three-stage verification process.

The Palestinian Ministry of Economy must first authorise the pro forma invoices submitted by businesses looking to import Turkish goods. The ministry subsequently forwards the authorised invoice to Türkiye's Ministry of Trade. The transaction is then validated by exporters' associations in Türkiye.