Erdoğan’s Dilemma: SOCAR or Palestinian Rhetoric?
In Turkey, the Palestine issue is not only regarded as a humanitarian crisis but also as a political and ideological tool. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government have long drawn international attention with their strong pro-Palestinian rhetoric, yet this rhetoric frequently contradicts economic and strategic interests. Recently, the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR’s trade relations with Israel have become one of the most striking examples of this contradiction. Even Erdoğan’s own supporters often criticize him, arguing that he uses the “Palestinian cause” merely as a tool for gaining domestic political popularity while being unwilling to jeopardize energy agreements and other strategic interests in practice.
Turkey is an important logistics center for SOCAR’s oil shipments to Israel because Azerbaijani oil is delivered to Israel through the Turkish Port of Ceyhan. Azerbaijani Oil Comes to Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline. It is being shipped to Israel by tankers from the Ceyhan Port in Turkey. Azerbaijani oil coming through BTC is loaded into crude oil tankers from Ceyhan Port and shipped to Israel. These shipments supply a significant portion of Israel’s energy needs.
The protests against SOCAR are a reflection of radical groups in Turkey exploiting the Palestinian issue to undermine energy and diplomatic relations. On June 20, during an attack on SOCAR’s Turkey office, protesters threw stones at the building, broke windows, and attempted to force their way inside. However, these protests serve neither Palestine nor Turkey in any meaningful way. On the contrary, Azerbaijan’s strategic partnership with Israel is unlikely to change, and attacking SOCAR, one of Turkey’s largest energy investors, directly harms Turkey’s economic and political interests. These demonstrations have turned into an ideological propaganda tool rather than a rational response.
As a Turkish citizen and someone who puts his country’s interests before everything else, I cannot help but question the logic of these protests. The attacks on SOCAR, one of Turkey’s largest direct investors, are actually targeting not just a company, but also the strategic and economic partnership of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Demanding that SOCAR’s trade with Israel be stopped means asking for a major blow to both the Azerbaijani and Turkish economies.
According to official data, between January and April 2024, Azerbaijan exported 1,021,917 tons of crude oil to Israel. This figure represents an increase of approximately 28% compared to 2023. Azerbaijan remains a critical oil supplier for Israel’s refineries in Haifa and Ashdod. Despite its anti-Israel rhetoric, Turkey has continued to turn a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s oil exports to Israel for years. The transit revenues from the BTC pipeline and Ankara’s strategic partnership with Baku have led Turkey to overlook this situation for a long time.
However, the issue here is not limited to economic relations alone. Unlike Turkey, the partnership between Azerbaijan and Israel is not solely based on energy and trade. The two countries perceive Iran as a common security threat and act as allies against these threats. While Azerbaijan cooperates with Israel to safeguard its security against Iran’s efforts to expand its regional influence, certain groups in Turkey ignore these geopolitical realities and believe that attacking SOCAR serves the Palestinian cause.
The reality is that the protests against SOCAR do nothing but harm Turkey’s economic and strategic interests. Forcing Azerbaijan to abandon its partnership with Israel is not feasible, and such attacks only serve to damage Turkey’s strong ties with Azerbaijan. These protests are nothing more than an ideological demonstration that uses the Palestinian issue as a pretext to undermine Turkey’s energy and diplomatic interests.
As a Turkish citizen, I make it a priority to safeguard both my country’s and Azerbaijan’s security and economic interests. This is why I question who benefits from the attacks on SOCAR and what purpose they truly serve. Turkey cannot afford to ignore its real economic and strategic priorities in favor of superficial Palestinian rhetoric used for domestic political gain. What is the true goal of these protests? Are they meant to protect Turkey’s long-term interests, or are they simply becoming a propaganda tool in the hands of political Islam? And Erdoğan must make a clear choice: Will he continue to exploit the Palestinian cause for domestic political gain while quietly benefiting from economic and strategic partnerships that contradict his rhetoric? Or will he prioritize Turkey’s long-term economic stability and geopolitical alliances over ideological posturing? These are the real questions that need to be answered.