Turkey Is Turning Its Breadbasket Into an Oil Hub

As Wars Upend Export Routes, Turkey Is Turning Its Agricultural Heartland Into an Oil Hub

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Report: Turkey Is Turning Its Breadbasket Into an Oil Hub

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Report

Turkey Is Turning Its Breadbasket Into an Oil Hub

As wars disrupt traditional export routes, Ankara is moving quickly to capitalize—at the expense of the last standing heartland of the Fertile Crescent.

September 29, 2026, 5:00 AM

By **Naomi Cohen**, a journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Istanbul.

!A worker wearing a bright orange hard hat and dark uniform walks along a narrow catwalk atop a large, flat-topped industrial storage tank.

*A worker wearing a bright orange hard hat and dark uniform walks along a narrow catwalk atop a large, flat-topped industrial storage tank.*

A worker walks on top of an oil tank at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan on Feb. 19, 2014. Umit Bektas/Reuters

*

Iran War

Analysis and news.

Across Cukurova, the alluvial plain in southern Turkey that lines the easternmost inlet of the Mediterranean Sea, farmers till land so fertile that it bears three harvests a year. Rivers feed cash crops of cotton, corn, wheat, sunflowers, rapeseed, and soybean; the muggy climate warms greenhouses filled with tomatoes, bananas, and avocados; and the mineral-rich soil supports a wide array of produce—citrus, peanuts, lemons, olives, pomegranates, watermelon, and more.

It is also, however, a key node in a newly vital route for oil otherwise blocked by the wars in Ukraine and Iran. The Fertile Crescent’s last great expanse of farmland spared by centuries of drought, war, and mismanagement is now vulnerable as Turkey moves to accommodate some 850,000 extra barrels of oil per day, with plans for much more.

Across Cukurova, the alluvial plain in southern Turkey that lines the easternmost inlet of the Mediterranean Sea, farmers till land so fertile that it bears three harvests a year. Rivers feed cash crops of cotton, corn, wheat, sunflowers, rapeseed, and soybean; the muggy climate warms greenhouses filled with tomatoes, bananas, and avocados; and the mineral-rich soil supports a wide array of produce—citrus, peanuts, lemons, olives, pomegranates, watermelon, and more.

It is also, however, a key node in a newly vital route for oil otherwise blocked by the wars in Ukraine and Iran. The Fertile Crescent’s last great expanse of farmland spared by centuries of drought, war, and mismanagement is now vulnerable as Turkey moves to accommodate some 850,000 extra barrels of oil per day, with plans for much more.

Existing oil and industrial facilities have already displaced many of Cukurova’s farmers and fishers. But the expansion underway could complete the plain’s transition from an area that can still live off its arable land and abundant waters—now a luxury in the drought-strained region—to an energy shipping and petrochemical hub. Not only could these industries nearly replace farming; they could permanently alter the land and water that sustain it, making it unfeasible for it to ever return.

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!An agricultural harvesting vehicle with a small red Turkish flag mounted on the cab operates in a field filled with white cotton plants.

*An agricultural harvesting vehicle with a small red Turkish flag mounted on the cab operates in a field filled with white cotton plants.*

A worker harvests cotton in the Cukurova district of Adana, Turkey, on Sept. 12, 2019. Ibrahim Erikan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The center of this transformation is Ceyhan, a district in Adana province with a stretch of villages along the coastline. Known for having some of the most productive farmland in Cukurova, Ceyhan also hosts one of the Mediterranean’s busiest energy ports, where two major crude oil pipelines terminate: the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which routes from Azerbaijan through Georgia, and the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which brings oil from northern Iraq. In recent months, with Ukrainian drones striking Russian pipelines and Iraqi oil vessels blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, Turkey’s pipelines have offered an alternative to traditional export routes.

Other countries, including Israel, Romania, and Syria, claim that they will be able to bypass these blockages, but the alternative pipelines, both existing and planned, connecting to the Mediterranean or to the Black Sea are low volume, unsafe, or unrealistic. Ceyhan, at least, has two active pipelines that are cheaper and faster than other current options.

“I don’t think that there is a transit route or a hub that is entirely risk-free,” said Carole Nakhle, an energy economist and the founder of Crystol Energy, a British advisory firm. “That’s one area where Turkey perhaps has an advantage.”

Many countries are reacting to the stoppages by turning to alternative energy sources; Turkey is instead doubling down on its oil industry. While demand for oil as a fuel is slowing, demand for it as a raw material for petrochemical products is surging. Turkey is capitalizing on this by scaling up, consolidating, and formalizing oil-related development. It is quadrupling oil storage capacity around the Ceyhan terminals, aiming to meet and eventually exceed the pipelines’ combined capacity of 2.7 million barrels per day. It is also fast-tracking environmental and zoning permits for energy-related projects—including highways, a high-speed rail, logistical centers, and mines—and reviving plans for a massive expansion of petrochemical production.

The largest of the planned petrochemical zones, backed by new multinational financing secured by Turkish conglomerate Ronesans, lies just north of th