Israeli Defense Minister Claims Turkey Has Been Buying Islamic State Oil For Years
By MINA
During his visit to Athens, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon accused Turkey of sponsoring terrorism by buying oil from the Islamic State (Daesh) terrorist group.
“As you know, Daesh enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time. I hope that it will be ended,” Ya’alon said during a meeting with his Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos in Athens.
The Israeli defense minister further accused Turkey of “allowing the jihadists to move freely from Europe to Syria and Iraq and back to Europe, and in this become part of the Islamic State’s infrastructure in Europe,” the Ynet reports.
“It’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation to fight terrorism. This is not the case so far,” Moshe Ya’alon said.
Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL), which is outlawed in many countries including Russia, controls large areas in oil-rich Syria, Iraq and Libya. Earlier in December, the Russian Defense Ministry presented evidence showing that the jihadists had been smuggling oil across the Syria-Turkey border in large volumes (thousands of oil trucks).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly denied profiting from IS oil trafficking and vowed to resign if indisputable evidence emerged that confirmed his family’s involvement in the Daesh oil business.
