Turkey’s Ongoing Supply of Oil to Israel Despite Political Tensions: A Closer Look at Israel and Azerbaijan’s Strong Economic Ties

According to senior Israeli officials, Turkey has not yet halted the loading of oil tankers from the port of Ceyhan in Turkey to Israel. This information was revealed to Globes for the first time today. Azerbaijan is a major oil supplier to Israel, with oil being transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline and loaded onto tankers headed for Haifa. In January, Israel ranked first in Azerbaijan’s oil export targets, receiving 523.5 thousand tons worth approximately 297 million dollars.

Israel’s relationship with Azerbaijan is one of its most stable with a Muslim country, dating back to 1992. The two countries have expanded their cooperation in various areas like education and last year, Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Tel Aviv. This move demonstrated a strengthening of ties between the two nations, highlighting the importance of their relationship.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has good relations with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan is hesitant to take actions that would directly harm Aliyev, as Turkey and Azerbaijan have a deep relationship based on the idea of “one nation, two states.” The reason Turkey continues to supply oil to Israel is not due to Jerusalem’s interests but rather to maintain a strong relationship with Baku.

In addition to oil from Azerbaijan, Israel also sources military equipment from other countries like Kazakhstan and Nigeria. Israel’s military equipment supplier in Azerbaijan includes armament such as “Haroop” and “Laura” missiles as well as the purchase of the Barak MX air defense system from Israel Aerospace Industries for 1.2 billion dollars. These relationships are vital for maintaining security interests in the region and expanding economic opportunities through trade partnerships.

Overall, it appears that despite political tensions between Turkey and other countries in the region, including Israel and Iran, there are still opportunities for economic cooperation and diplomacy among these nations. As such, it will be interesting to see how these relationships evolve in the future and what impact they may have on regional stability and prosperity.