‘Erdogan and his family’ involved in oil trade with IS, says Antonov

Mr. Erdogan has labeled the accusations “slander”. The Turkish president has once again refuted all claims Wednesday that Turkey has been purchasing oil from Daesh, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

“Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq”.

“According to available information, the highest level of the political leadership of the country, President Erdogan and his family are involved in this criminal business”, Antonov told the briefing, BBC reported.

Turkey, which says Assad’s departure must be part of any long-term solution in Syria, has said the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace – something that Russia denies.

The US has earlier suspected that middlemen in Turkey have been buying oil from IS territories. “I will not remain in this post”.

Erdogan, however, pointed out that he did not want relations between the two countries to get any worse.

Toner said Turkey had begun steps to seal an exposed section of its frontier with an IS-controlled region of Syria through which much of the trade passes.

“We are saddened by the disproportional responses by Russian Federation to an incident in which the whole world agrees we are right”.

Antonov, meanwhile, said that IS militants make $2 billion a year from the illegal oil trade, and he squarely put the personal blame on Erdogan.

“What a great family business!” “Obviously, no one but the closest people could be entrusted to control such dealings”. On Wednesday, Antonov specifically named Erdogan and his family for their alleged involvement with the trade.

The authenticity of the video or the claims in it could not immediately be confirmed and there was no comment from Russia’s Foreign Ministry or its FSB security service. “We believe that the worldwide community should focus strengthening the fight against ISIL, and refrain from everything that can strengthen ISIL”, he stressed, using an alternative acronym for the terrorist group. “The cynicism of the Turkish leadership has no limits”.

Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi, of the Russian military’s general staff, also claimed Russian airstrikes on the ISIS oil infrastructure in Syria had halved the militants’ profits. “It’s hard not to notice them”, Rudskoy said of the lines of trucks shown on satellite images. Accusing Moscow of reacting in an “emotional” way, he said there was “no question” of Turkey retaliating against Russian citizens living in Turkey. Russian Federation insisted that the jet stayed over the Syrian territory during the whole flight.

While the Russians have yet to confirm the meeting, they have not rejected it outright. “You can’t just say things, you need to present evidence”, Erdogan said.

Even as Moscow released its latest salvo of allegations, Lavrov agreed to meet his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at a conference in Belgrade later this week for the first time since the downing.