SOCAR attack: Speculation on oil and blood Gaza's "defenders" at the behest of provocateurs

As is known, on June 3, radical groups attacked the SOCAR office in Istanbul. Members of the organisation "One Thousand Young People for Palestine" threw paint on the building and tried to break into the office. According to media reports, by behaving so, the radicals expressed their dissatisfaction with the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel in the energy sector. More precisely, "the sale of Azerbaijani oil to Israel".

Before discussing the issue of Azerbaijan's cooperation with Israel, it should be noted that the very assumption of selling Azerbaijani oil to Israel is not entirely correct. As stated in the message of SOCAR Türkiye: “We carry out our activities within the framework of international business agreements in line with the vision set out by our head office, the Azerbaijan State Oil Company SOCAR. In this context, allegations that SOCAR is currently selling crude oil to Israel do not reflect reality and are deliberately aimed at confusing public opinion. The global oil market has its own characteristics, and the sale of produced crude oil is carried out through trading or trending companies. Supplier companies cannot control and interfere in which countries crude oil is transported and for what purposes it is used. In this context, SOCAR, like other oil companies, sells supplied products within the framework of trade relations with the relevant companies.”

This explanation, however, does not cancel the fact that Azerbaijan and Israel have partnership relations in several areas. And from this perspective, an interesting picture emerges. Azerbaijan is not the only Muslim country cooperating with Israel. Even some of the Arab countries that tried several times to "throw Israel into the sea", such as Egypt and Jordan, are cooperating with the Jewish state, including, of course, trade. It is also worth recalling that Jordan actively used its air defences to shoot down Iranian missiles flying through its territory towards Israel during the recent attack. There are reports that Saudi Arabia also helped Israel in this endeavour. In addition, Arab States such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel a few years ago.

Against the background of the friendship of the immediate Arab Palestinian neighbours with Israel, Azerbaijan's partnership with the Jewish state, you must agree, looks quite harmless. So why did the champions of Palestinian interests decide to settle scores with Azerbaijani business?

It seems quite logical in this light that the perpetrators of this act of vandalism are not fighting Israel, but Azerbaijan.

After the glorious victory in the 44-day war and the subsequent full restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, certain forces clearly did not like the increase in Azerbaijan's international status.

And these forces are located both in the West and in the East. The Turkish TV channel Haber Global aired a story in which the true purpose of the group of radicals who attacked the Istanbul office of SOCAR, calling themselves supporters of Palestine, was revealed. The piece stated that the attackers made an unsuccessful attempt to undermine relations between Türkiye and Azerbaijan. Later it became known that most of the participants of the action supported the activities of terrorist groups fighting against Türkiye in Syria and Iraq.

Reports indicate that following the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from occupation, pro-Western forces and certain groups with ties to Iran have been resorting to various provocations in an attempt to spoil relations between Baku and Ankara.

Besides, a curious detail is revealed in one of the photos taken from the scene. The woman you see in the photo turned up at the SOCAR office just at the time of the hooligan action. "Who knows how many people could have been there at that time?" - you might rightly ask. Yes, it could be written off as an accident, if the woman was not a journalist, and not just any journalist, but a French one. I wonder how the French media learnt about the forthcoming action? The question is both rhetorical and mysterious.

While the investigation is underway, it is too early to say anything definite, but let us keep in mind that there are some traces leading to third countries. However, one thing is clear - this provocation has nothing to do with the situation in Gaza. And here it is worth emphasising once again that Baku has a very clear position on the Palestinian problem. It recognises the state of Israel and cannot support extremist ideas about the destruction of this state. At the same time, Baku also recognises Palestine. Moreover, Azerbaijan recognises both States within the 1967 borders, that is, with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. At all the votes in the UN General Assembly and Security Council Azerbaijan supported this right of Palestine contrary to the position of its partner Israel. It is worth noting separately that the Palestinian Authority has never made any claims against Azerbaijan.

Despite the contradictions in views between Baku and Tel Aviv on this issue, Azerbaijan and Israel have managed to agree on cooperation in areas they consider strategically important for themselves. This is an indicator of the wisdom of the two countries' leadership. And no one has the right to tell Azerbaijan how to build relations with other states, nor can anyone ever drive a wedge in the friendship between Azerbaijan and Türrkiye.