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Claims made by a senior opposition figure regarding the Türkiye-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement and an international arbitration case are false and misleading, Türkiye’s Communications Directorate said Thursday.
The Disinformation Response Center, a unit within the Communications Directorate, dismissed allegations made by Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Deniz Yavuzyilmaz as “deceptive and legally baseless.”
Yavuzyilmaz had alleged that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had unilaterally canceled a 50-year agreement without informing parliament, and that Türkiye had been ordered to pay a $1.47 billion fine in an international arbitration case—charges the government rejected as disinformation.
The Disinformation Response Center said on X that the agreement, originally signed in 1973 and renewed in 2010, had become outdated due to evolving regional conditions and developments in the global energy market.
It clarified that Türkiye and Iraq had launched a new and more comprehensive energy cooperation framework. As part of this transition, the current agreement is set to expire on July 27, 2026, as stipulated in a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.
Regarding the arbitration case, the center explained that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitral tribunal in Paris had rejected 4 out of 5 demands made by Iraq and upheld the majority of Türkiye’s claims.
“Both sides were ordered to pay partial compensation based on mutual violations. Türkiye immediately launched an annulment case in Paris concerning the portion of the award favoring Iraq,” the center stated. “No final compensation has been determined.”
The statement added that the arbitration decision became public following an enforcement lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on October 4, 2023, making the award accessible to all.
“Academic articles have already been written based on the publicly available arbitration ruling,” the center noted. “Claims of discovering a ‘secret document’ are misleading and unfounded.”
The Disinformation Response Center accused the opposition official of distorting legal facts and ignoring the portions of the arbitration ruling that favored Türkiye.
“Yavuzyilmaz’s remarks are part of a smear campaign aimed at creating friction between Türkiye and Iraq and discrediting Türkiye on the international stage,” the statement said.
“The opposition is irresponsibly reviving news reports from over two years ago to fabricate a crisis that does not exist,” it added, urging the public to rely on official government statements and verified facts.
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