Earlier this week Russia, escalating tensions after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane, accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of illegally profiting from oil purchases from the Islamic State.
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The downing of the Russian warplane on the Turkish-Syria border on November 24 has strained ties between Ankara and Moscow which have traded accusations in recent days.
“We know who are stuffing pockets in Turkey and letting terrorists prosper from the sale of oil they stole in Syria”.
Additionally, Erdogan underlined that Turkey may be in need of natural gas and oil but Moscow was not its only option.
Dramatic footage shows the moment an Islamic State oil truck convoy bursts into flames after being obliterated by a Russian airstrike.
“We just don’t believe that to be true in any way, shape or form”, a US State Department spokesman said. Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu addresses the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, ADA, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday Dec. 4, 2015. Russian officials assert the alleged arrangement financially benefits not only ISIS but also Turkey’s ruling elite. “They went into someone else’s country, they are robbing it without compunction”, Antonov said.
“When US officials say they don’t see how the terrorists’ oil is smuggled to Turkey…it smells badly of a desire to cover up these acts”, the ministry said on its Facebook page.
“If the American colleagues are not satisfied with those ones, they should watch videos gained by their own UAVs”, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Facebook. As Keith Johnson writes in Foreign Policy, “Turkey gets about 60% of its natural gas from Russian Federation, but Moscow can’t easily forsake the one European market where demand for natural gas is growing, especially at a time when low oil prices have hammered its export-dependent economy”. The militants shot and killed the downed plane’s pilot while he was descending on parachute and also killed a Russian marine involved in rescuing the plane’s co-pilot.
Ankara said that it is impossible to close the border and Daesh terrorists may boost their forces in response, according to The Hurriyet Daily News.
“Modern Russian weapons have worked efficiently, and the priceless experience of its use in combat will be analyzed to help further improve our weapons”, he said.
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“The oil is being consumed nearly entirely inside areas of control of Syria and trading with the regime” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the official said, adding, “ISIL is selling it into the economy”.
