The U.S. State Department said there is no evidence to support Russia’s claim that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family are involved in the illicit oil trade.
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Following the downing of the jet on November 24, Russia has announced sanctions against Turkey, with Russian President Vladimir Putin levelling accusations against the Turkish president and threatening that Ankara would regret shooting down the jet.
Turkey says the plane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, while furious Moscow insists it did not cross from Syria and has accused Ankara of a planned provocation.
Erdogan said in a televised speech on December 5 that “it is possible to find different suppliers”, apparently referring to countries such as Qatar and Azerbaijan.
Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu this week visited Qatar and Azerbaijan respectively to reach agreements on importing liquefied natural gas from Qatar, and expediting the construction of a gas pipeline that carries Azerbaijan’s gas in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and Europe.
“Russia is Turkey’s biggest natural gas supplier but it is not the only one”, Erdogan said while addressing the Turkey Innovation Week in Istanbul.
But Erdogan dismissed the remark as a “lie”, saying that in fact Turkey suspended the project because of Russia’s “non-compliance with our demands”.
Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday Turkey had had made the necessary response over Sunday’s incident which came amid escalating Russian-Turkish tensions following Turkey’s downing of a Russian plane. It also slammed an array of economic sanctions on Turkey, including a ban on imports of fruit and vegetables and the sales of tourism packages. “We will stand firm”.
“We have taken part in at least half of the operations”, a senior Turkish official told reporters.
The pause is the latest complication over Turkey’s role to have tested the patience of U.S. war planners, who want a more assertive Turkish contribution – particularly in securing a section of border with Syria that is seen as a crucial supply route for the Islamic State.
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“We are not speaking with their language now. We are patient on this issue”, he said.
