Greta Thunberg at COP: Turkish energy shipments 'directly fuelling the genocide of Palestine'

Activist Greta Thunberg has called for an end to Turkish fuel shipments to Israel at the Cop 31 climate conference in Turkey’s Antalya, as a new report has revealed that 77 crude oil shipments left Turkish ports for Israel in violation of Ankara’s energy embargo. Thunberg, who addressed a packed press conference on Thursday alongside activists from Nepal, Australia, Palestine and Canada, called on Ankara to “stop the transfer of oil and energy from its territory to Israel”, which she said is “directly fuelling the genocide of Palestine”.

Her comments came shortly after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in his opening address to the conference that Gaza has suffered "not only a genocide but also an ecocide", and called for the immediate entry of aid into the war-torn enclave. Minister of environment and COP31 president, Murat Kurum, told Turkish media earlier this week that Turkey did not invite Israel’s leaders to participate at the summit due to the mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza.

The campaign group Energy Embargo for Palestine (EFFP) told Middle East Eye that while they welcomed these statements and actions, an "uncomfortable contradiction still follows Türkiye throughout COP". New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "How can a government present itself as a climate leader while its territory remains an essential element of supply chains providing oil to Israel during its genocidal assault on Palestinians?" a spokesperson for the group said.

Turkey - which is jointly hosting this year's climate conference with Australia - is coming under increasing scrutiny for continued shipments of Azerbaijani crude, which is pumped through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline from Azerbaijan and shipped out from the Turkish port of Ceyhan. An updated report jointly authored by EFFP, the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Progressive International revealed last week that 77 crude oil shipments - totalling nearly 6,463 kilotonnes - left the Turkish port of Ceyhan for Israel between May 2024 and June 2026.

Ankara declared a trade embargo against Israel in May 2024. Covert shipments The latest findings build on a previous investigation published in January by the same groups that found that 57 shipments of Azerbaijani crude oil had sailed from Turkish to Israeli ports between May 2024 and December 2025. According to the report, the fuel transfers were conducted covertly, with vessels listing false end destinations and disabling their tracking systems to avoid detection.

The researchers pieced together the journeys, confirming that the boats docked in Israel through satellite imagery and shipping data. They identified that oil pumped through the BTC pipeline accounts for over 40 percent of Israel’s total oil imports over the course of its genocide in Gaza, and that the oil is refined and used to fuel Israel’s fighter jets, tanks and military vehicles. Cop28: Critics of Israel's Gaza mass killings face 'unprecedented' UN policing Read More » Turkey has maintained that it does not control where the oil pumped through the BTC is sold.

The pipeline is managed by Turkish state-owned energy company Botas but owned by the Azerbaijani state-owned company Socar. In November 2024, the Turkish minister of energy said that exporters using Ceyhan "respected its decision to end trade with Israel" and that oil was not being loaded onto ships which listed Israel as a destination. But data from vessel-tracking firm Kpler, cited by Reuters , showed that exports of Azerbaijani crude to Israel surged by 31 percent in 2025, the highest level since 2022.

Following the initial report, EEFP said that Turkish government ministries reviewed their data and stated that they would launch legal action against shipping agents accused of listing false destinations for shipments bound for Israeli ports. However, the updated data shows at least 20 shipments, totalling an estimated 2,411 kilotonnes, leaving Turkey for Israel between 2 December 2025 and 30 June 2026, suggesting that shipments continued after this pledge.

Turkish diplomatic sources told MEE in response to a request for comment that the BTC pipeline is governed by international agreements and that the project is a partnership of 10 firms, with the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) holding a 6.53 percent share. They emphasised that “there is no sale of oil belonging to TPAO to Israel”, adding that “other companies utilizing the BTC pipeline respect Türkiye’s decision to cease trade with Israel, and no shipments are being made to Israel as the designated delivery point”.

Greek shipping companies According to the data, the majority of the shipments were managed by Greek shipping operators Kyklades Maritime Corporation and Thenamaris Ships Management. MEE previously reported , citing No Harbour for Genocide, that from 2 May 2024 to 1 December 2025, the two Greek firms accounted for 91.23 percent of oil shipments from Turkey to Israel. Kyklades ran all but one of the 20 shipments which were conducted between December 2025 and June 2026.

These journeys appeared to follow the same pattern as previous shipments, with vessels listing destinations in Egypt and Italy but, according to port records, not docking there during the stated timeframes. In the majority of cases, the ships disabled their signals while heading south from Turkey and turned them back on again several days later, often with a lighter weight - suggesting that they offloaded cargo between the two recorded stops.

MEE contacted Kyklades and Thenamaris for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Copyright © 2014 - 2026 . Middle East Eye. All rights reserved. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. Middle East Eye ISSN 2634-2456