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April 18th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Caglayan told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that the economic cost “is borne by Turkey,” not just by Iran. “Other countries pay the price of sanctions, too,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.
Turkey paid $54 billion for energy imports last year, a 40 percent increase over 2010, the Turkish energy minister said.
Caglayan said Turkey is not bound by the unilateral US sanctions in the same way it must abide by the United Nations sanctions against Iran.
According to the US Energy Department, Turkey was the sixth-largest importer of Iranian crude during the first half of 2011, buying 182,000 barrels a day.
Turkey accounted for 7 percent of Iran’s oil exports in that period, according to the US data.
Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on April 13 that Ankara will maintain strong energy ties with Tehran.
Yildiz emphasized that despite Western sanctions against Iran’s oil sector, Turkey will continue to buy crude oil and natural gas from Iran.
Pointing to Ankara’s recent decision to decrease oil imports from Iran, the Turkish minister stated that the move was not made in line with the Western sanctions against Iran.
He also denied speculations and reports that Ankara had taken the measure under US pressure.
Yildiz stated that the main reason behind the move was the start of oil imports from Libya to help the normalization of the North African country.
“Opening a new gate for cooperation with Libya, which is on the way to normalization, was necessary and Tupras – Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation – [has] signed a contract to buy one million tons of crude oil from Libya,” he added.
The decision was made shortly after the US Ambassador in Turkey, Francis Riccardione, reportedly called on Ankara to curtail oil imports from Iran, prompting speculations that Turkey had made the move under US pressure.
MP/HJL/MA
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