Putin and ErdoganIt is the latest in a series of claims Russian Federation has made about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family firms enjoying trade ties with IS.
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Since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on November 24, the United States has quietly put on hold a long-standing request for its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally to play a more active role in the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State group.
Russia and Turkey have in recent days traded allegations that they are involved in the illegal trade, further ratcheting up tensions after Turkish jets downed a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.
Interestingly, when US officials were asked to comment on the veracity of the claim, an American military officer reportedly admitted such massive shipments were known to be taking place.
Escalating tensions will set back USA efforts to draw Russian Federation into the worldwide alliance fighting Isis in Syria, a task already complicated by the Kremlin’s abiding support for Assad. We have always considered betrayal the worst and most shameful act.
President Vladimir Putin attacked Turkey first and foremost before discussing issues concerning Russian Federation in his Annual Presidential Address on Thursday.
Russian Federation has accused Erdogan and his family of personally profiting from the oil trade with IS, which controls a large chunk of Syrian territory including many oil fields.
At a briefing in Moscow, defence ministry officials displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey.
“The terrorists are using these receipts to recruit mercenaries, buy weapons and plan inhuman terrorist attacks against Russian citizens and against people in France, Lebanon, Mali and other states”, he said.
“We have the proof in our hands”. “No one can blame Turkey, no one can expect an apology from Turkey”, Davutoglu stated within the speech, which was on tv on Turkish tv.
“We will not rattle our sabres”.
“If anyone thinks that having committed this very bad war crime, the murder of our people, that they are going to get away with some measures concerning their tomatoes or some limits on construction and other sectors, they are sorely mistaken”.
“We’ll remind them of what they did, more than once”, Putin warned.
Immediately after Putin’s speech Russia’s energy minister Alexander Novak announced the suspension of talks between Ankara and Moscow over the major TurkStream pipeline project. As well as economic sanctions on Turkey, Moscow has scrapped talks on building a pipeline to export Russian natural gas to Europe.
The venomous rhetoric of Putin, who Thursday described the Turkish leadership as a “ruling clique” deprived of common sense, and the Turkish leader’s defiant refusal to apologise will make it hard to paddle back.
There appears, however, little chance that the two sides will lower the tone as the two strongmen insist the other should apologise over the incident.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also underscored that if the border is closed Ankara will not be able to accept refugees from Syria.
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“They were called Pravda lies”, he said, referring to the daily newspaper that was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
