Responding to the allegations in a speech at Qatar University yesterday, Mr Erdogan claimed they were “slander” and repeated a pledge, first given on Monday, to resign if they were proven. “If these responses continue we will take our own measures”, he said, without elaborating.
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Officials produced aerial and satellite photographs showing thousands of oil tanker lorries streaming from Isis-controlled oil wells in Syria and Iraq into Turkish sea ports and refineries. “But if someone thinks that after committing heinous war crimes, the murder of our people, it will end with (an embargo on) tomatoes and limitations in construction and other fields then they are deeply mistaken”, Putin said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday that talks with Turkey on building a pipeline that would allow Russia to export natural gas to the European Union through Turkey have been halted.
The meeting would be the first between senior officials from the two countries since Turkey downed the Russian warplane, touching off a crisis between the two countries that previously enjoyed warm ties.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said Turkey had made progress in sealing its border with Syria, but Islamic State was still exploiting gaps to bring in foreign fighters and selloil.
It banned imports of some Turkish foodstuffs as part of a sanctions package, and on Wednesday Russia’s defence ministry said it had proof that President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.
Despite the tensions Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he is prepared to meet Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at a security conference in Serbia this week. The ministry said the images definitively prove Turkey’s massive oil trade with the IS.
Turkey has become Moscow’s prime worldwide sparring partner after it shot down a Russian jet on its border with Syria on November 24 – sparking fury in Russia and economic sanctions from the Kremlin.
“Who is buying oil (from IS)?” The militants shot and killed the downed plane’s pilot while he was descending on parachute and also killed a Russian marine who was involved in rescuing the plane’s co-pilot.
It had a message it wanted the whole world to hear: that the faces of Turkey’s leaders, including President Erdogan, were “smeared with stolen oil”.
“Turkish firms are not simply anxious about a reduction in LPG deliveries from Russian Federation because of the current situation – they are already preparing for this”, one trader who works in the LPG market told Reuters.
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During his address, however, Putin appeared to downplay the involvement of the military in Russia’s response.
