An opposition lawmaker in Turkey has alleged that part of the transport fees paid by Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government for crude shipped through the Iraq–Turkey Pipeline was routed to state pipeline operator BOTAŞ, with the rest totaling $1.4 billion left unaccounted for.
Deniz Yavuzyılmaz of the Republican People’s Party said on August 20 that Deloitte-verified KRG oil reports show $2.32 billion in “tariff payments to Turkish Energy Company,” a Jersey-registered firm tied to Turkey’s side of the trade, for the period from May 2014 to September 2018. He claimed that $904 million then reached BOTAŞ and that $1.416 billion is not accounted for. He said he would add these materials to a filing to seek a trial of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Constitutional Court, which can sit as a Supreme Criminal Tribunal.
Yavuzyılmaz also shared pages from the International Chamber of Commerce tribunal’s 2023 award that ordered Turkey to reimburse Iraq $1,324,941,586 in overpaid transportation fees. The award concerns Turkey’s breaches of the pipeline agreements by allowing exports from the Kurdish region without federal Iraqi approval and by denying Iraqi officials access to facilities.
The tribunal’s award does not document any transfer from Turkish Energy Company to BOTAŞ or any missing balance. Those elements are Yavuzyılmaz’s claims based on his reading of the Deloitte reports and Turkish audit records.
The Presidential Communications Directorate has previously said the award is not final because Turkey seeks an annulment in France. Arbitration lawyers say the award remains enforceable in other jurisdictions unless the Paris court annuls it, a remedy that is rare and limited to procedural grounds.
Turkey halted flows on the line after the award. A second arbitration over later periods is pending, and Ankara and Baghdad have discussed a new framework for pipeline operations.