International Call to Action: BP and SOCAR, Stop Fuelling Genocide!

Summary

Energy Embargo for Palestine, Filistin İçin Bin Genç and Global Energy Embargo for Palestine are issuing a call to action to groups around the world to act and apply pressure on the actors complicit in fuelling the Israeli genocide via the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. 

Israel receives around 30% of its oil from Azerbaijan via the BTC pipeline, which it has been using to power its war machine enacting a genocide in Gaza, that is being expanded into Lebanon. The oil fields and pipeline are majority owned by BP, and the second largest shareholder is SOCAR - the Azerbaijani national oil company. At the final stop of the BTC pipeline, the oil is shipped from Turkey to Israel. 

We have launched an international campaign demanding an energy embargo on Israel with a focus on the BTC pipeline and its two main corporate actors: BP and SOCAR. We are calling on Palestine solidarity, climate and social justice groups around the world to act and apply pressure on the actors complicit in fueling the Israeli genocide via this supply chain. In the twelve days of COP-29, which is held in Azerbaijan, we call on groups to mobilise around three main targets expanded below: Azerbaijani and Turkish embassies, BP and SOCAR offices in your locale, and BP and SOCAR’s institutional partnerships.

For a full analysis of the supply chain, read Energy Embargo for Palestine’s latest report.

International campaign

This is an international campaign coordinated by Energy Embargo for Palestine, Filistin İçin 1000 Genç and the Palestinian-led Global Energy Embargo for Palestine. It takes a pluralistic approach to the supply chain: economic, logistical and political with the ultimate goal of having an impact on oil supplies to Israel by raising the cost of business as usual. This is a multi-phased campaign. The first phase is popularising the call for an end to oil supplies to the Israeli genocide, with a particular focus on COP29 which takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan this November.

We are identifying multiple pressure points. The first is the Turkish state which represents the final stop in the BTC pipeline where oil is shipped to Israel. The Turkish President Erdogan has criticised Western actors and the Zionist genocide in Palestine, claiming that “Türkiye has been doing everything in its power for the immediate termination of Israel’s barbarity that has claimed 40 thousand lives over the past 10 months”.  However, there has been no restrictions on the export of energy to Israel. Turkey relies on its PR image of being a state that supports Palestine; whilst Turkish groups are well placed to exploit this contradiction in the Turkish political sphere, we also demand that groups internationally demand that the Turkish state stops supplying oil to Israel.

Another pressure point is the isolation of BP, exposing its complicity in the genocide, and targetting its reputation and social licenses. SOCAR can also be targeted through its institutional partnerships. Other avenues include international logistical pressure points such as oil companies that charter ships transporting Azeri oil to Israel (Oilmar (UAE), Petraco (Switzerland), SOCAR and its subsidiary SOCAR Trading (Azerbaijan), BOTAŞ (Turkey), Vitol (Switzerland) and Glencore (Switzerland)). 

COP29

The first phase is popularising the campaign and raising awareness of the BTC supply chain to genocide, through agitation around COP29. We call on all groups to join us in coordinating actions, producing communication outputs, and disrupting the supply chain during the 11 days of Baku’s COP29: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 – Fri, 22 Nov 2024. Critics have nicknamed this as “BP’s COP” due to the involvement of BP and SOCAR in delivering this COP. Azerbaijan’s Energy minister, Mukhtar Babyev, who was formerly the Vice-President of Ecology at SOCAR and has spent 26 years working in SOCAR, has been announced as the president for COP-29. Additionally, Tony Blair, who was involved in lobbying for the BTC oil pipeline in Azerbaijan and BP’s operations in Iraq following his invasion, has sought to assist in running the climate summit. We view COP29 as another key site for the expansion of BP and SOCAR’s “social licence to operate”. We must intervene in the narrative of BP and SOCAR’s commitment to green energy whilst they are fuelling genocide and ecocide in Palestine.

How to support the campaign

For the twelve days of COP-29 we ask that groups support our international campaign through:

1. Organising your own action on the international days of action.
   
   November 11th: Demonstration outside the Turkish or Azerbaijani embassy in your locale on the global day of action. This will be coordinated internationally where we will protest the Turkish and Azerbaijani states for fuelling Israel and demanding Turkey to end their supply of oil to Israel. 
   
   November 16th: Demonstrate outside BP or SOCAR offices in your locale or at one of their institutional partnerships. This will also be coordinated internationally where groups will all target BP and SOCAR institutions. If you would like more support in finding an institution local to you, please contact: [email protected].
2. Organising actions outside of our international days of actions 
   
   If you want to organise numerous actions outside of November 11th and November 16th, we are calling for groups internationally to focus on targeting: Turkish and Azerbaijan embassies; BP and SOCAR headquarters, offices and subsidiaries (specifically SOCAR Trading and BP exploration ltd.); BP and SOCAR social licences: job recruitment / fairs, their offices (+ SOCAR offices) and their presence in educational and cultural institutions

3. Digital and physical communications

   • Creating posters or stickers for raising awareness
   • Producing your own infographics and twitter threads explaining the importance of targeting the BTC supply chain
   • Document any actions you take in photos and videos for social media engagement  

Coordination

If your group is supporting the campaign by coordinating a public action or producing digital communications, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]

Feel free to reach out to us on signal if you have a contact. We are also happy to answer any questions that you have regarding the campaign and provide you with more information where necessary.

If you would like to email groups below on actions specific to Britain or Turkey, email below: 

[email protected] (Britain)
[email protected] (Turkey)

If you or your group are attending COP29, please email [email protected]

Illustration by Heedayah Lockman.