Parliamentary inquiry into Turkey's disputed oil deal with KRG rejected

A parliamentary inquiry into Turkey's disputed oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) was rejected on Thursday in the Turkish parliament by the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally far right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Iraq's Ministry of Oil earlier announced on 25 March that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris ruled in favor of Iraq on 23 March in the case concerning oil exports from KRI to Turkey without authorization by Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO).

ICC ordered Turkey to pay Iraq around $1.5 billion before interest, for the exports between 2014 and 2018, Reuters said, citing a source familiar with the case.

Turkey's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said on Tuesday, however, that ICC rejected most of Baghdad's demands whilst accepting most of Ankara's, and that Iraq was supposed to pay compensation to Turkey.

After a parliamentary inquiry on Turkey's said oil exports was proposed by the opposition Good Party, party deputy Yasin Ozturk said in his address that the authorities were trying to cover up the legally disputed trade deal because Berat Albayrak, former energy minister and son in low of President Recep Tayyip Eerdogan, was involved.

He said:

"This is a case that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources try to conceal. They are trying to cover up this case of corruption, because the firm that signed a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] of Iraq is Powertrans. All top officials of that firm previously worked for Calik Holding. Who is the former CEO of Calik? Berat Albayrak, who formerly served first as the minister of energy then as the minister of treasury and finance. Powertrans's CEO Ekrem Keles is a friend of Berat Albayrak. Keles used to submit everything, from personnel recruitment to things like employees' meal allowances, to Berat Albayrak's approval."

He added:

"The deal involving Powertrans is not the only oil case in which the government led Turkey to an embarrassing situation. The Islamic State [ISIS] had seized in 2014 60% of the oil fields in Syria and seven important oil fields in Iraq. Most of the oil under ISIS's control was sold via Turkey."

The deputy also claimed that Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan and relatives were among the partners of the firm that took part in selling ISIS oil.