“On behalf of the Palestinian people, we have come to hold SOCAR to account for providing the fuel for the jets that are bombing Rafah,” the group chanted. Other slogans included “SOCAR's oil feeds the occupation”.
Two days later, police raided the homes of some participants in the early morning, arresting 13, sparking widespread outrage on social media.
The lawyer of the arrested, Yağız Timoçin, posted on the social media platform X: “We spoke with our clients. 13 people are in custody, with files against 16 people in total. Charges include property damage and violation of workplace inviolability. Our clients were subjected to strip search, they were detained without even wearing shoes.”
The Thousand Youths for Palestine group reacted on their social media account saying, “It is not us young people who are guilty, but those who are partners in the genocide that feeds Zionism. We call on all friends of Palestine to support our struggle and stand in solidarity with our movement!”
SOCAR also released a statement accusing the protestors of being “provocateurs” and referring to the war in Gaza as “geopolitical developments”.
Azerbaijan is said to provide up to 40% of Israel’s oil needs, while Israel supplies crucial large quantities of military hardware to Azerbaijan. Most of the oil is traded through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and then shipped to Israeli ports from the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
Despite calls to shut down this pipeline, which would have a more significant impact on Israel than any previous Turkish measures, Turkey has so far refused to take action. The extent of measures taken by Ankara against Israel has been a contentious topic in Turkey, even creating cracks among President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's conservative electorate.
(DT)
