Turkey allowing ISIS industrial scale oil sales via its territory, charges Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again charged that he has solid information confirming that Isis (Daesh) terrorists are making oil sales via Turkey.

"At the moment we have received additional information confirming that that oil from the deposits controlled by Daesh militants enters Turkish territory on industrial scale,” said Putin on the sidelines of a climate change summit in Paris on Monday, according to PressTV. [Report below].

"We have every reason to believe that the decision to down our plane was guided by a desire to ensure security of this oil’s delivery routes to ports where they are shipped in tankers,” he added.

Putin’s open allegations were instantly addressed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was also present at the conference. He stated that he would quit as President if there was any proof available of Turkey’s tie-up with Isis on oil.

"We are not that dishonest to buy oil from terrorists. If it is proven that we have in fact done so I will leave office. If there is any evidence, let them present it, we’ll consider [it],” he said.

Russia’s allegations come swiftly on the heels of Iraqi lawmaker Mowaffak al-Rubaie stating on Sunday that Isis has made over $800 million dollars in black market oil sales in Turkey over the last eight months.

"This is Iraqi oil and Syrian oil, carried by trucks from Iraq, from Syria through the borders to Turkey and sold… [at] less than 50 percent of the international oil price,” he was quoted as saying by PressTV.

He also accused the United States of ignoring the illegal oil sales by not targeting Isis trucks that carry Iraqi and Syrian oil. The US considers these trucks as ‘civilian targets’ unlike Russia which has be hitting the oil supply truck lines hard ever since it launched its air strikes in Syria against Isis.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie told Sputnik news on Monday:  "I have personally contacted US representatives asking them to target ISIL trucks transporting Iraqi and Syrian oil to Turkey only to be told that those were civilian targets so they could not attack them.” Rubaie is a leader of the State of Law Coalition party in the Iraqi parliament and former national security adviser.

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