Turkey’s Erdogan Has Links to Islamic State Oil, Russia Says

The Russian government presented Wednesday what it says is proof that the Islamic State group’s oil has been ending up in Turkish refineries, accusing Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family of benefiting from the illegal smuggling of the Syrian and Iraqi oil.

At a briefing to journalists in Moscow, deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov said Turkey was the biggest buyer of “stolen” oil from Syria and Iraq.

The main consumer of this oil stolen from the legal owners in Syria and Iraq is Turkey.

“It is obvious where we legally buy oil and natural gas from”, Erdogan said, as reported by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

“President Erdogan and his family are involved in this criminal business”, Antonov said.

“Maybe I’m speaking too bluntly, but the control over that thievish business could only be given to the closest people”, Antonov said, adding that Erdogan’s son heads a top energy company and his son-in-law has been named Turkey’s energy minister.

“What a fantastic family business”, he said, claiming that “terrorists” in Syria made some $2 billion (1.9 billion euros) each year out of the illegal oil trade. While it says it is also targeting ISIS, the US have accused it of hitting other anti-Assad rebel groups, including fighters supported by Turkey. “We frankly see no evidence, none, to support such an accusation”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Footage was also sent out by the Kremlin that purported to show a flow of lorries crossing the Turkey-Syria border with no restrictions at the Reyhanli checkpoint.

In a challenge to Mr Putin, Turkish president Recep Erdogan has said he is prepared to step down if Russia can prove the oil claims and has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the same if he can’t prove them.

Meanwhile, in Cyprus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he would agree to meet with his Turkish counterpart this week to hear Turkey’s explanations on the downing of the Russian air force jet.

Erdogan said he would be ready to resign if the allegations were proved true.

Some, including the Netherlands, want Turkey and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters to discuss the air incursions with Russian Federation. Russian Federation has halted the sale of holiday tours to Turkey – a key tourist destination – and is set to ban the import of Turkish fruit and vegetables, as well as threatening other measures.

Ankara’s position is that Assad must go for the conflict to end – a position also held by the United States.

Relations between Moscow and Ankara have plummeted in the past week after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border. “Turkey has not lost its conscience to receive oil from a terrorist organization”, Erdogan said in Qatar. The ministry did not provide further evidence of its claims.