The Israeli Defense Ministry recently extended a power supply contract for army bases with Dorad Energy, which is partially owned by a Turkish company whose chairman has received praise from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Dorad power station in Ashkelon, the second-largest independent power station in the country, has provided electricity to the Israel Defense Forces and the Defense Ministry since 2004. Last month, the firm’s board of directors approved renewing the deal to supply power to IDF bases, The Jerusalem Post reported over the weekend.
The agreement was unanimously approved, including by the representatives of Zorlu Energy, a subsidiary of the Turkish Zorlu Holding that holds a quarter of the shares in Dorad.
According to Dorad’s website, Zoru is the company’s second-largest shareholder after Israel’s state-owned Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company.
Zorlu Holding’s chairman, Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, is said to maintain close ties with Erdoğan and his AK Party. In the past, he received multiple awards from Erdoğan, with the Turkish leader praising him as a “hero.”
The contract with Israel’s Defense Ministry was extended two months after Erdoğan declared he would halt all business with the Jewish state, citing the “humanitarian tragedy” amid the war in Gaza.
Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has said that Israeli claims of Ankara easing the trade ban are “fictional and have nothing to do with reality.”
Following a public outcry in Turkey, Zorlu Holding said on Monday that it intends to sell its shares in Dorad, ending its business ties to the Jewish state.
“We continue our efforts to remove our share of the Dorad power plant and Israel from our portfolio,” Zorlu said in a legal notice. “We will share the developments with the public fully and in a timely manner.”
Erdoğan has become ever more hostile towards Israel and closer to Hamas since the terrorist organization’s Oct. 7 cross-border massacre.
In May, Erdoğan described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “vampire who feeds on blood,” while urging Muslims to act against the “threat” posed by the Jewish state. “The world is watching the barbarity of … a psychopath, a vampire who feeds on blood called Netanyahu, and they are watching it on live broadcast,” he said.
Last month, Erdoğan told Newsweek that Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip are “simply defending their homes, streets and homeland.
“What is between Israel and Gaza is not war,” he continued. “Israel has been treating Gaza as an open-air prison for years. They are usurping Palestinians of their homes, businesses and farmlands throughout Palestinian territory using thieving terrorists they call settlers.”
