The Spanish newspaper Público published an article written by Ferran Barber and David Meseguer about the olive oil that the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries plundered from Afrin canton, where the article touched upon questions raised in the Senate of Spain and European Commission over determining the origin of the stolen oil which Turkey seeks to market as Turkish into other countries as well as falsifying documents and financing terrorism.
The Spanish newspaper Público released on Tuesday, 29 January 2019, an article written by Ferran Barber and David Meseguer tackling Turkish introduction of Afrin olive oil into Spain’s markets as of Turkish origin after Turkey and its mercenaries occupied Afrin canton and stole its olive harvest.
EU has not applied analytical tests to determine origin of stolen Syrian oil
First, Barber, and Meseguer noted to the questions senators raised in the Spanish Senate after reports of olive oil imported into Spain as of Turkish origin, especially after Turkish crimes reported in Afrin, they wrote, “Senators Carles Mulet García and Jordi Navarrete Pla, members of the Valencian political coalition Compromís, have presented two questions and a motion in the Spanish Senate in order to ask the Spanish Government to provide the last three reports of olive oil Spanish imports issued by the Customs Department. Following the debate generated by the Turkish crimes in Afrin, the Valencian Senators asked the Government of Spain to explain if any other company was involved in this kind of fraud and if, specifically, some other traded illegally with Turkish olive oil. If so, Mulet and Navarrete want to know how Spain is combating these fraudulent practices and what kind of sanctions are imposed on offenders. The Government of Spain has also been asked by the Basq Senator Jon Iñarritu (EH Bildu).”
Making use of trade agreements, Turkey could finance terrorism in ME
Barber, Meseguer noted that Compromís called for strengthening resources to detect origin of oil imported into Spain, writing, “Compromís also demanded the customs police of the Mediterranean ports to be strengthened with enough resources and agents in order to detect the origin of oils to be sold in Spain, and very especially, of those that have their origin in Turkey. The Valencian coalition urged the Government to adopt additional measures to protect local consumers that make it impossible to trade foreign productions that violate the European regulations.”
The article touched upon Turkish practices that could finance terrorism through benefiting from trade agreement, assuring that European police should investigate Turkish financing of terrorism through multiple practices, stating, “Carles Mulet and Jordi Navarrete want to clarify if Spain, Italy or any other third-country could be involved in the fraud of imports of falsely ‘Turkish’ oil stolen in Syria, while recalling that Turkey benefits from trade agreements that simplify the marketing of their products. Senators believe that European police should coordinate in order to investigate “a practice that could be financing terrorism in the Middle East by using despicable practices of robbery, pillage, bribes, food manipulation and fraud.”
“The Primavera Europea coalition also presented a motion to the European Commission for conducting necessary measures to know if any European company could be involved in the acquisition of Afrin stolen oil.”
No tests to know the origin
The article noted that no tests have been conducted till now to determine the looted olive oil origin which Turkey is fraudulently trying to market as Turkish which part of its revenues go to Islamic mercenaries that occupied that canton, they wrote, “On the other hand, none of the Spanish institutions that are responsible for ensuring compliance with European regulations in relation to agri-food imports have the necessary sensory and analytical evaluation technologies to determine the origin of an olive oil. What this means in practice is that only a police investigation that exceeds the powers and competences of the service that inspects imports -SOIVRE- would allow to find out if, as Público denounced a few days ago, Turkey could have introduced or be trying to fraudulently selling a portion of the ten to fifty thousand tons of olive oil looted from the Kurds in the Syrian city of Afrin and its surroundings in order to finance the Islamist mercenaries who are used to sustain the illegal war effort in that canton.”
Working on olive oil test
The article pointed out that it is difficult to determine the variety of the oil, “According to Rafael Pico, director of the private entity that groups the Spanish olive oil exporting companies (ASOLIVA), “it is not that they lack the means due to an inadequate endowment of resources. The problem is that there are not even scientific procedures to determine the variety of oil. Precisely, the European Commission is working right now through the Oleum project in the development of some procedure to determine that.”
“Regarding the certainty of the origin, the only guarantee is the traceability documents. Of course, if there has been some kind of falsification of credentials, the responsibility would be the Government of Turkey or the Turkish companies that took part in it, and not the Spanish companies that hypothetically could acquire without their knowledge any Syrian product with a certificate of Turkish origin,” says Rafael Pico.”
The writers noted to Turkish occupation and its mercenaries’ illegal occupation to Afrin canton that sabotaged Kurdish producers’ possessions, here they wrote “Of course, if as recognized by the Turkish Minister of Agriculture Bekir Pakdemirli, the Afrin harvest has been looted to be sold fraudulently, no official document will send the product to trees located in an area illegally occupied by force of arms or leave to see that the oil was obtained by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and its Turkish allies by the looting of the Kurdish producers, subjugated and dispossessed of their possessions by the Erdogan regime.”
False documents
Turkish occupation’s practices did not restrict to occupying Afrin canton, sabotaging its residents, plundering harvest, but also reached the point of falsification of documents to introduce Afrin oil as Turkish, they wrote, “According to information published by Público on January 12th, the Government of Turkey is trying to introduce illegally in third countries such as Spain several thousand tons of olive oil produced with the olives plundered by their mercenaries in Afrin and other neighboring municipalities of Rojava.”
Adding, “Part of the production could have already been sold, or about to be marketed, with false documents of attribution of origin issued with the blessings of the Turkish administration, where tins of first quality Afrin olive oil, under the name of Barakat Al Ghouta was sold in Saudi Arabia as of Turkish origin. A secret protocol released by the Kurdish agency Firat (ANF) suggests that almost a quarter of the income obtained through the commercialization of that product–some 19 million euros – would be used to pay the mercenaries of Recep Tayipp Erdogan.”
The newspaper pointed out to Kurds’ role in fighting the Islamic State organization while Turkey perceives them as terrorists, “What the Executive of Erdogan tries to avoid is that part of the income provided by the “green gold” will end up in the hands of the Syrian Kurds, whom he treats as a subsidiary of the PKK, and whom he obsessively refers to as terrorists, although they have been the main land allies of the Americans in the fight against the Islamic State.”
“A Kemalist deputy from the People’s Republican Party (CHP), Orhan Saribal, who stated that it is strictly true that around 50,000 tons of Syrian olive oil from Afrin have been transported to Turkey for commercialization in the domestic market and in third countries. According to this parliamentarian, Afrin oil travels crudely in sixteen and twenty kilo cans to Turkey, where it is labeled and packed, then it is processed in Hatay along with other olives making more difficult to detect the fraud as Turkey itself sponsors the scam.”
Ferran Barber and David Meseguer concluded the article with, “According to an Afrin producer based in Spain, the type of olive tree that abounds most among the Kurds is often known as “Zeiti”. “In fact, it is often said that it is the one that provides the most performance. “The average production of each tree ranges between one hundred and two hundred kilos, in alternate years. There are five subtypes of this variety, whose quality and production is variable. Logically, the Kurdish peasants choose the best ones according to their preferences.”
