President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile on Thursday said Turkey said he had proof Russia was involved in illegal oil trade with ISIS in Syria, countering “immoral” Russian allegations that his own family was importing oil from the jihadists. “Apparently Allah chose to punish the ruling clique in Turkey by taking their sanity”, he said.
Advertisement
Turkey said the Russian SU-24 fighter plane intruded into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to leave.
Nine days after the incident, Moscow and Ankara still have starkly different versions of what happened, and Putin is furious Erdogan has not apologized for the episode, something the Turkish leader has said he will not do.
“But if anyone thinks that after committing a treacherous war crime, the killing of our people, they will get away with (the ban on imports) of tomatoes or some restrictions on construction and other industries, they are deeply mistaken”.
“We will remind them not once about what they have done, and they will feel sorry about it a couple of times”.
“We did not hear anything new”. Cavusoglu said that “it would be unrealistic to say that the problem has been overcome”, but added that “our hope is that they avoid making unfounded claims”.
Erdogan responded by saying no one had the right to “slander” Turkey by accusing it of buying oil from Islamic State, and that he would stand down if such allegations were proven to be true.
The defence ministry said its surveillance revealed hundreds of tanker trucks gathering at Islamic State-controlled sites in Iraq and Syria to load up with oil, and it questioned why the U.S.-led coalition was not launching more air strikes on them.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin says Turkey will repent “more than once” the downing of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian-Turkish border, stating that Moscow will not turn a blind eye to Ankara’s “aiding of terrorists”.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) presented “evidence” on Wednesday that ISIS had been smuggling oil onto Turkish soil to be purchased by Turkey’s president “and his family”. The ministry insisted that the images definitively prove Turkey’s massive oil trade with the IS.
Stressing that U.S. support for its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally’s security remained steadfast, Mr Obama told Mr Erdogan that ISIS must be pursued by all sides, echoing a message he delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Russian defense officials said Peshkov managed to eject from his stricken plane only to be killed by ground fire from militants inside Syria.
Officials said that the Russian air force’s bombing campaign had made a significant dent in Islamic State’s ability to produce, refine and sell oil.
Advertisement
To this end, he suggested “withdrawing misused agricultural land from questionable owners and selling it at an auction to those who can and want to cultivate the land”, asking for legislation to be changed by next fall.
