[Global Network Reporter zhangqian] According to Bloomberg News, Turkish Energy Minister alpaslan bayraktar said in an interview with the media on the evening of October 2, local time that purchasing Russian oil is a business decision made by oil refining companies. Bloomberg said that this statement implied that Turkey was unwilling to follow US President Trump's call to cut off energy ties with Russia.

¡°This is essentially a decision of private enterprises, distributors and refiners,¡± Bayrakhtar said, adding that Turkey¡¯s refineries were originally built to process crude oil in neighboring regions, so imports from Russia are both a technologically inevitable option and a business decision.

Bloomberg said that Iraq Tar's statement came as the United States was stepping up pressure on allies to cut energy trade with Russia. When Trump met with Turkish President Erdogan last week, he said he hoped Turkey would stop purchasing Russian oil as long as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continued.

The report said that as for natural gas procurement, Iraq Tar said that as winter approaches, Turkey must ensure supplies from different sources "without discrimination.""We need to purchase natural gas from all possible channels such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan."

The report mentioned that Turkey is not the only country that has shown resistance to the above call of the United States. Hungarian Prime Minister Orban said last month that landlocked countries like Hungary would suffer economic disaster if they were forced to abandon Russian oil and gas transported through pipelines.

U.S. President Donald Trump had met with Turkish President Erdogan at the White House on September 25 and urged Turkey to stop buying Russian oil, suggesting a possible lifting of the ban on Turkey¡¯s purchase of U.S. F-35, but Trump did not disclose whether Erdogan pledged to do so. When asked whether Turkey was willing to stop buying oil from Russia, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barak replied: ¡°You have to ask them (the Turkish side),¡± according to the Belgian Intelligence Brookee Institute data, Turkey is Russia¡¯s fourth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade last year reaching $52 billion.