Moscow accuses Erdogan’s family of involvement in ISIS oil trade

Russian Federation on Wednesday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of involvement in illegal oil trading with Islamic State jihadists, ratcheting up the heat in a dispute over Ankara’s downing of one of Moscow’s warplanes.

The Turkish strongman accused Moscow of “slander” and has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands to apologise over the plane incident, saying that Turkey was acting well within its rights to protect its border.

The outspoken rejection of Russia’s evidence by State Department and Pentagon spokesmen not only clashed with Secretary Carter’s remarks, but also with an assessment made past year by US Vice-President Joe Biden. He said that Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet at the border with Syria was a “treacherous war crime”.

Putin said that to efficiently combat terrorism the global community must halt any support of terrorist groups, and said that Turkey has allowed the IS to thrive by illegally purchasing its oil.

“We reject outright the premise that the Turkish government is in league with ISIL to smuggle oil across its borders”, Toner said, using an acronym for the militant group.

“What we have seen is that ISIL relinquishes ownership and sells its oil at the wellhead in Syria and Iraq and that oil is sold to smugglers, middlemen, truckers”.

During the brifing, the ministry has space surveillance photographs demonstrating that Daesh now transports up to 200,000 barrels of oil for processing to third-party countries including Turkey.

After arriving in Belgrade, he told reporters that it would be “sad not to hear anything new” from the Turkish side.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation yesterday invited Montenegro to become the 29th member of the US-led military alliance.

He said that Turkey will act within the framework of global diplomacy.

In addition, up to 2,000 fighters, 120 tons of ammunition, and 250 vehicles have been delivered to Islamic State and Al-Nusra militants from Turkish territory, said Lieutenant General Mikhail Mizintsev. The ministry has presented data on the infrastructure of the illegal oil trade.

Putin said that Russian Federation will take other retaliatory moves against Turkey, but will not engage in saber rattling.

It said its satellite surveillance had captured hundreds of trucks crossing the border in that area back in the summer, and that since then there had been no reduction in the flow.

While most such allegations come and go and are quickly forgotten, the defense ministry followed this allegation up with a detailed presentation of evidence backing the claim that ISIS is smuggling oil into Turkey in great quantities.