Reports in the past from Turkey’s border with Syria have repeatedly said that Islamic State was smuggling oil, a key source of its revenues, to underground dealers in Turkey.
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“According to our data, the top political leadership of the country – President Erdogan and his family – is involved in this criminal business”.
Despite the evidence presented by Russia, Erdogan is unlikely to keep his promise to resign if his links with Islamic State and illegal oil trade are proven, Antonov said.
An undated still image taken from a video made available by the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, December 2, shows the Turkish-Syrian border crossing.
US President Barack Obama urged Turkey on Tuesday to reduce tensions with Moscow after the downing of a Russian warplane and to seal its border with Syria to choke off the supply of money and fighters to ISIS militants.
He said there was “no question” of Turkey retaliating against Russian citizens living in the country.
On Monday, Erdogan said he would be ready to resign if Russian Federation managed to prove the allegations.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – MAY 30: Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters during a ceremony to mark the 562nd anniversary of the conquest of the city by Ottoman Turks on May 30, 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Other Turkish government officials described the claims as baseless, while a senior official from the ruling AK Party founded by Erdogan said they were part of a narrative being spun for a Russian domestic audience. It also halted the sale of tours to Turkey. The challenge comes as bilateral tensions continue to escalate following Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet last week. (For an assessment of these claims, read this.) Assad, Putin’s ally in the Syrian civil war, has also been accused of buying oil from the Islamic State, a group that his forces are ostensibly fighting. However, Russia’s Defense Ministry has said the Su-24M plane stayed exclusively over the Syrian territory and “there was no violation of the Turkish air space”.
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Russian Federation has hit back, slapping Turkey with a series of sanctions over the weekend – including bans on Turks’ labour contract extensions, chartered flights from Russian Federation to Turkey and tourism packages to Turkey. “They are consuming most of what they produce as they need gasoline to meet their needs…. if [ISIS] is in control of an area in Syria and Iraq that governs 8 million people you will need gasoline for cars, trucks and fuel products to run homes”. “We have repeatedly spoken about the danger of toying with terrorists”, Antonov said.
