Oil, which accounts for 32.6 percent of the world's energy consumption, and natural gas, which accounts for 23.7 percent, have been the cause of wars, conflicts, poverty and destruction for a hundred years. While all regions where oil is found share this fate, these "rich" resources have brought only poverty, war and death to the peoples. The Middle East, which hosts 48 percent of the oil reserves and 43 percent of the natural gas reserves, is the place where the war has been experienced the most.

 

The Syrian war, which started in 2011 and ended with the fall of Damascus on 8 December 2024, is also shaped by who will control these resources. In Latakia and Tarsus, Syria's gateway to the Mediterranean, HTS continued its advance with the withdrawal of Russia.

WAR HAS NEVER STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE EAST

 

The first leader overthrown by oil in the Middle East was Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who nationalised the country's oil industry in August 1953. Following a coup d'état by the military, in October 1954 the government contracted a consortium of mainly US companies to manage Iran's oil industry. In July 1956, following Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal, which was controlled by Britain and France, the two countries temporarily seized the canal in a coordinated attack with Israel. The most important reason for the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq, which started in September 1980, was to end Iran's dominance in the Persian Gulf, and both Iraq and Iran organised attacks on oil facilities. Iraq also invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990 following a dispute over the Rumaila oil field on the border.

 

The rebellion and clashes that started in Libya, Africa's largest oil producer, against Muammar Gaddafi in February 2011 did not end despite the overthrow of Gaddafi. While the country had a dual administration with the House of Representatives in Tobruk and the General National Congress in Tripoli, both groups attacked facilities to seize oil resources. A permanent ceasefire agreement was signed between the two main parties on 24 October 2020. In both civil wars, most of the fighting took place in the Oil Crescent region, where 60 percent of Libya's total oil exports come from, with the largest proven oil reserves in Africa.

 

COUPS IN LATIN AMERICA

 

In the past, Latin American countries have been the region where tensions over oil and energy lines have been the most common. Presidents who wanted to "nationalise" the oil resources of their countries were ousted by military coups and replaced by "soldiers" who handed over all resources to foreign companies. The first state refinery in Latin America, National Administration of Fuels, Alcohols and Portland (ANCAP), was established in Uruguay in 1931. Gabriel Terra, who took office in a coup d'état in 1933, passed laws that neutralised ANCAP and gave control of oil back to North American companies.

 

In Brazil, Petrobras, the national oil company founded in 1953 with the slogan "Oil is ours", started to be privatised under Marshal Castelo Bronco, who came to power after the coup in the country. In Argentina, on 6 September 1930, while the parliament was about to vote on the nationalisation of oil, President Hipolito Yrigogen was ousted by a military coup. In Venezuela, the soldiers who came to power after the fall of the Romulo Gallegos government in 1948 reduced the state share of the oil extracted by oil companies. In Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Peru and Mexico in Central America, governments that wanted to nationalise oil were overthrown by military coups.

 

Oil caused not only coups but also wars. The Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay was caused by oil. On 30 May 1934, US senator Huey Long accused Standard Oil of New Jersey in a speech in the House of Representatives of fomenting discord and financing the Bolivian army in order to seize the Chaco region of Paraguay. There was no way to complete the pipeline from Bolivia to the river without capturing the Chaco region. There was also a high probability that oil would be found in the area. Shell financed the Paraguayan army. The rent war between the two companies turned into a war between two countries.

 

After Hugo Chavez, who became President of Venezuela in February 1999, nationalised most of the oil resources and restricted the access of international oil companies, there was first a coup attempt by the military against Chavez. After the coup failed, the US embargo against the country began and has continued for more than 20 years.

CIVIL WARS IN AFRICA

 

While oil became the justification for "rebellions" in Africa, the artificial ethnic groups created during the colonial period were pitted against each other for the share gained from oil and civil wars were justified. The energy-political competition between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China has been a factor affecting the course of civil wars in the region. As the centre of Africa was transforming into an oil basin, the US started to exploit the oil deposits in Chad, which it captured, and started to transport the oil to the Atlantic Ocean via a pipeline laid through Cameroon, spending 3.5 billion dollars. However, after the internal conflicts in Chad, President Idris Deby established close relations with China against the US. This is because Chad is the second country with the most oil in Central Africa. Despite this, people in Chad are dying of hunger and poverty.

 

In Nigeria, the civil wars in the past in Biafra and now in the Niger Delta are related to the rich oil deposits in these regions, while one of the biggest destructions in the region was experienced in the Darfur region on the Chad/Sudan border. In the 1970s, the oil deposits found in the south of Sudan were on the one hand a hope for the prosperity of the country and on the other hand a tool fuelling the civil war. Darfur, which is located on the borders of Sudan and has oil deposits, has been a region where poverty has never ended despite its underground wealth. During the civil war that led to the division of the country into South Sudan and Sudan, China and the USA, who wanted to process the oil of the region, transferred weapons to the parties. After the war, China operates the oil on one side of the divided Sudan and the US operates the oil on the other side.

 

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Izmir MP İbrahim Akın made evaluations on the Syrian war, energy transmission lines and regional conflicts.

 

AKIN: IMPERIALIST EXPANSIONISM

 

Stating that the discovery of oil and natural gas in the Gulf countries and the massacres that befell the countries of the region and the focal points of world wars developed in parallel, Akın said that similar things happened in Africa, Latin America and the Far East in the past. Reminding that in the 15th century, European countries started to commodify the underground and above-ground assets of the "discovered" new world, Akın said: "Despite the hundreds of years that have passed, the same thing continues today. Although 'expansionism' seems to be a purely political concept, its basis is the transfer of economic accumulation and the desire to seize this accumulation. Although the means and methods have changed over the years, the logic of capitalism and imperialist expansionism has never changed. The international capitalist system wants to sustain its existence by transferring wealth and assets or by seizing assets in various regions. The conflicts in the Middle East are an extension of the great war of division that is going on in many parts of the world. The only difference is that due to the sociological characteristics of the region, the regional war here is developing more violently and tends to expand more than in the rest of the world."

 

SYRIA'S STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

 

Noting that Syria, which is one of the few countries in the world in terms of oil reserves, has experienced a decline in production with the start of the civil war, Akın added: "However, this decline does not mean that the importance of energy resources in the region has decreased. Like all wars of division, the control of underground and surface assets and water resources are among the most decisive objectives in the wars in the Middle East. The Syrian war is also like this. The main aim of the states controlling the war and conflicts is to take control of the region and to control the trade and energy corridors in the region. Moreover, the Middle East has a strategic importance not only in terms of the transportation of Syrian oil, but also in terms of controlling the trade routes from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. The Eastern Mediterranean is of great importance in controlling the trade routes from the Red Sea to Europe. All these factors increase the importance of Syria's regional position. In other words, Syria's territory and coasts have a strategic importance in the transfer of Syrian oil and the oil and natural gas from the south to the north and the Mediterranean Sea."

POSSIBLE TRANSMISSION LINES

 

Evaluating the future of energy transmission lines in the region, "Although it is unlikely to be realised in the near future, a recent news report in AA, the official news agency of the state, was remarkable. The news was about the establishment of a natural gas pipeline extending from Qatar to Turkey and from there to Europe. Although this project may not seem very feasible today due to the ongoing conflicts and risks in the region, the fact that this evaluation was made in the official news agency of the state can be read as a declaration of intent. On the other hand, the maritime trade routes from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea draw attention as an important route both for the shipment of all commercial goods and for the transport of oil and natural gas by tankers. It is also possible to say that the countries that control the Mediterranean coast of Syria will gain a significant advantage in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is not possible to answer exactly where the current conflicts will evolve to at the moment. However, the control of these strategic points will result in the control of these trade routes," he said.

 

'WAR IS NOT IN THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLES'

 

Emphasising that the wars and conflicts that have been going on in the Middle East for many years are not for the benefit of the peoples of the region, Akın continued: "In addition, both the war and the plunder of natural assets are also dragging the region into an ecological destruction. When we look at these facts, regardless of who wins in wars of division, it is always the peoples and nature who lose. This is the main reason why we oppose wars and defend peace. Peoples and nature suffer in return for international capital consolidating its own system through wars and conflicts."

 

MA / Tolga Güney