Russia: Turkish president benefits from IS oil trade

The Russian Defense Ministry officials said they knew of three routes by which ISIS oil reaches Turkey, showing satellite images that allegedly showed oil tankers traveling from Syria into Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family are “involved” in ISIS’ illegal oil trade and personally benefit from it, Russian Federation alleged Wednesday, NBC News reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces are targeting the Islamic State, but the US and Turkey have accused Russia of bombing opponents of Assad, including ethnic Turks living in Syria. In response, Erdogan has made a public promise to resign if accusations about his illegal oil ties to ISIS are proven, flatly denying the charges and accusing Russian Federation of slandering Turkey.

That’s not to say ISIS oil isn’t being imported to Turkey. This is a brilliant family business!

‘Shame on you. Those who claim we buy oil from Daesh are obliged to prove it. If not, you are a slanderer’.

A Russian parliament member, Vasily Likachev, told state news agency Tass that Moscow has sufficient evidence on oil sales to file a claim with the UN International Court of Justice.

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.

The harsh words are the latest in a heated spat that began when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet destined for Syria last week, claiming it violated Turkish airspace. One of the jet’s pilots was killed, as well as a Russian Marine sent to rescue him.

“Turkey has not lost its moral ethics [to stoop so low as to] buy oil from a terrorist organization”, said Erdogan.

“If Russia’s reactions continue, we will be forced to take our own measures, ” said Erdogan. If they do I would not remain on the presidential seat for one minute. While it is impossible to give exact figures due to the lack of independent researchers in the area, Marcel believes that individuals or criminal groups were profiting from the kickbacks in the sale of ISIS oil – and not, as Putin suggests, the Turkish government. The Erdogan government has said Putin’s accusation amounted to slander. But he stressed Russian Federation and Turkey should “de-escalate” their row to resolve the issue and focus instead on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the real enemy.

According to Iraqi intelligence and US officials, IS earns up to $50 million a month from sellling crude from oil fields under its control in Iraq and Syria.

“As far as the meeting with Turkish Minister [Mevlut] Cavusoglu goes, we are ready to make such a meeting on the sidelines [of the OSCE conference]”, Lavrov told reporters as he arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday.