Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Anatoly Antonov and his colleagues, during an event at the defense ministry’s headquarters in Moscow, showed foreign defense attaches based in Moscow some satellite images purporting to show ISIL transporting oil to Turkey.
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“President Erdogan and his family are involved in this criminal business”, Antonov said.
“What a great family business!” But speaking during a visit to Qatar, he also said he did not want relations with Moscow to worsen further. One of the jet’s pilots was killed, as well as a Russian Marine sent to rescue him.
Antonov offered no evidence of involvement by Erdogan or any of his family members in oil trade with IS.
Bashar al-Assad has accused coalition forces of “supporting terrorists” and warned that US-led air strikes in Syria have actually helped Isis to recruit more fighters and expand its control in the region.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on December 1 that Russian Federation was using these “unfounded” claims to “cover up” its violation of Turkey’s airspace when the jet was shot down.
Also on Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Erdogan was in “complete agreement” with plans to close a 98 kilometer (60 mile) stretch of Turkey’s border that abuts areas controlled by the Islamic State.
If the allegations by Russian Federation are proven to have merit, the Turkish leader said he would resign from office.
Sergei Rudskoy, the head of the Russian General Staff’s operative command, said three main oil routes had been identified: The western route to Turkish ports in the Mediterranean; the northern to Patma oil refinery; the eastern to Cazri transfer point. Turkish leaders won’t step down and they won’t acknowledge anything even if their faces are smeared with the stolen oil’.
Erdogan has been among these voices, claiming that ISIS fighters weren’t in the part of northern Syria being bombed by Russian Federation when its warplane was shot down but rather that “our brothers and sisters, Turkmen” were there.
Some of the smuggled cargoes go to the Turkish domestic market, while some is exported via the Turkish Mediterranean ports of Iskenderun and Dortyol, the ministry said.
Deputy Dmitry Gudkov also likened the treatment of Turkish nationals with discriminative Nazi practices by saying, “What is happening in Russia and promoted in Russian televisions is this exactly”.
President Vladimir Putin has said Turkey downed the Russian warplane in order to protect its oil trade with the extremist group.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that he would agree to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe meeting of foreign ministers in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
