Turkey to continue buying Iranian crude

Turkey once again stressed its resolve to purchase Iranian crude oil and dismissed demands for halting oil imports from Iran as "out of question". "It is out of the question for us to stop buying oil from Iran unless the supply is replaced," Turkey Energy Minister Yildiz Tanner told reports at an energy conference in Ankara on Wednesday. Tanner added that Turkey could still get a waiver from sanctions, which the United States plans to implement on countries buying oil from Iran, despite not being named on a list of exempted nations released by Washington yesterday. "Turkey's absence from the United States waiver list regarding the Iran issue doesn't mean it will not be included," he said. On Tuesday, the United States exempted 11 nations including 10 European Union (EU) members and Japan from tough new sanctions on Iran as they have reduced oil purchase from Tehran. Turkish has always said that it will keep its close ties and cooperation with Iran, specially in the energy sector. In relevant remarks in February, Yildiz had stated that Ankara will not abide by the Western sanctions imposed against Tehran's energy sector. "Turkey is not a member of the European Union (EU). Therefore, its decisions are not binding for us. Likewise, the decisions made by the US will not be binding," Yildiz stated at the time. India, China and Russia have also criticised the ban on Iranian oil. After months of debates, the EU member states eventually reached an agreement in their meeting on January 23 to sanction oil imports from Iran and freeze the assets of Iran's Central Bank within the EU. Meanwhile, demand is growing for Iranian crude oil in Asian and African markets after the EU's fresh decision. Iran is currently supplying 100 per cent of Sri Lanka's oil needs, 51 per cent of Turkey's, 25 per cent of South Africa, 14 per cent of Greece, 13 per cent of Italy and Spain, 11 per cent of India and China and 10 per cent of Japan and South Korea's oil demands.