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Turkey detains & deports Russian journalists investigating ISIS oil trade reports

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Kobani had entered Syria from Turkey. REUTERS/Rodi Said -

Kobani had entered Syria from Turkey. REUTERS/Rodi Said –

Russian journalists preparing an investigative report into Ankara’s alleged involvement in the oil trade with ISIS have been detained and deported from Turkey. Moscow strongly condemned the treatment of the Rossiya 1 TV crew, demanding explanations.

We strongly condemn the illegal actions of the Turkish authorities,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “Such an attitude towards the media is absolutely unacceptable.”

On Monday, the press crew of the TV program ‘Special Correspondent’, headed by Alexander Buzaladze, were detained in southeastern Turkey by authorities in civilian clothes. The journalists were preparing an investigative report into the alleged smuggling of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) oil into Turkey.

READ MORE: ISIS smuggles majority of oil through Turkey, says Iraqi PM

The trouble for the Rossiya 1 TV crew started only once they arrived at the border, Buzaladze said after the deportation. He told Russian state-owned channel Vesti that while the crew worked in Istanbul and Ankara they had faced no opposition from the authorities.

But as soon as they and tried to film close to the Turkish-Syrian border the crew was “blocked [by] the Turkish security forces” leaving them no time to even “get the camera out.”

The Russian crew was arrested in Hatay province bordering Syria as they were on their way to the neighboring province of Gaziantep. According to Buzaladze, there the journalists wanted to film “the border itself, military hardware, people that work at the border, and the border crossing.”

Turkish authorities were first of all concerned “whether we had a camera,” Buzaladze says.

“The first thing they wanted to know [was] if we had a camera. The camera was left in the luggage compartment, locked in a case. Despite this, they took our documents, we were taken to the police station, later we photographed, fingerprinted, brought to the doctor for a medical examination to confirm that we are in a sane state, and that we are alive and well,” the journalist said.

The crew was later informed by the Turkish side that they were being deported. At the same time, authorities failed to explain the reason behind their move, Buzaladedze notes. The Russian journalists were escorted by police to the airport and put on a plane back to Russia.

Throughout the entire incident the Turkish authorities refused to cooperate with Russian diplomats on the ground. The Russian Foreign Ministry wants to know the real reasons behind the detention of the Rossiya 1 crew, and remains curious as to what “rules” were violated by the Russian journalists.

“The Turkish authorities refused to give explanations to representatives of the Russian Embassy in Turkey who got in touch with the crew shortly after its detention,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The group was deported apparently under the pretext of its members having violated laws for foreign journalists working in Turkey.

 

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ISIS smuggles the majority of oil through Turkey,

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Prime-Minister-Haider-al-Abadi-650x297

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi

By Abdelhak Mamoun –

(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stressed the need to stop oil smuggling by ISIS and pointed out that the majority of oil is smuggled through Turkey, emphasizing that the entry of Turkish troops into Iraqi territory is unacceptable.

The Office of the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Abadi stressed the importance of stopping the smuggling of oil by ISIS gangs; which smuggle its majority of oil via Turkey,” noting that, “We talked with the Turkish side on the issue and there is a resolution by the UN Security Council.”

Abadi indicated that “the entry of Turkish forces into Iraqi territory is unacceptable and that it was without the knowledge of the Iraqi government.”

Defending Turkey’s Role in Daesh (ISIS) Oil Trade Destroys US Credibility

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Video by Gagrule.net

Video by Gagrule.net

Institute for Gulf Affairs founder and director Ali al-Ahmed claims that Turkey plays the dominant role allowing Daesh to defy international sanctions and the refusal by the United States to acknowledge the situation is destroying Washington’s international credibility.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Turkey plays the dominant role allowing Daesh to defy international sanctions and the refusal by the United States to acknowledge the situation is destroying Washington’s international credibility, Institute for Gulf Affairs founder and director Ali al-Ahmed told Sputnik.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that almost everything goes out through Turkey and that the Turkish government knows about it,” al-Ahmed said.

He explained that Turkey’s role has been intensely embarrassing for the Obama administration.

“This is very embarrassing for the US government defending these actions. It is protecting its allies. But it is destroying its own international credibility,” he stated.

The sheer scale of Daesh oil traffic into and through Turkey made it impossible for the Turkish government to be ignorant of it.”

Al-Ahmed also noted that 10,000 oil trucks carry the oil trade into Turkey.

“It is impossible to hide a trade of that size from the Turkish military. They carry Syrian and Iraqi oil and sell it cheap to the Turks,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip and his inner circle, al-Ahmed continued, have been directly benefitting from the trade as Russian officials have claimed.

“In Turkey, to do this, you must be close to the government and be especially close to Mr. Erdogan. Erdogan and his family and circle are completely involved Businesses with relationships to Erdogan are making a killing,” he added.

Daesh, Nusra and other jihadist groups received their weapons, munitions and other supplies through Turkey, al-Ahmed pointed out.

“Everything they sold for profit they got out through Turkey or the Gulf states. They sold to or through Turkey their oil, even machinery looted from cities in Syria and Iraq,” the analyst said.

In addition to the enormous scale of the illicit trade through Turkey, al-Ahmed says, Daesh is obtaining funds from the thousands of trucks it captured in northern Iraq and Syria.

“[Many] of the trucks they seize are sold to Gulf countries and to Turkey,” he observed.

Turkey’s domestic economy has been benefiting enormously from the cheap oil, but also food looted from Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State, which were sold afterwards at bargain basement prices, al-Ahmed said.

“The Turks are buying that oil at $10 to $20 a barrel instead of the $40 to $50 a barrel they would have to pay at current market prices. Wheat too they can buy at 25 percent of its international market price,” he noted.

Daesh was taking full advantage of some of the most fertile land in the region, the professor concluded.

source: sputniknews.com

Turkish Opposition MP Set to Reveal Evidence Linking Erdogan to (ISIS) Daesh Oil & “Erbil connection”

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1030064195Eren Erdem, a lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party, Turkey’s largest opposition party, says that he may have found the evidence linking President Recep Erdogan’s son-in-law to the dirty oil trade with Daesh.

Commenting on the sensational allegations put forth by Russia on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Erdogan and his family are directly connected to the trade of dirty oil, Erdem revealed that he is ready to publicize information next week linking Berat Albayrak, President Erdogan’s son-in-law and the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, to the Daesh oil trade.

In the course of his press conference, covered by Sputnik Turkey, Erdem explained that on the basis of his investigation, which is still in progress, “I have been able to establish that there is a very high probability that Berat Albayrak is linked to the supply of oil by the Daesh terrorists.”

The lawmaker told media that “there is one company, headquartered in Erbil, which in 2012 acquired oil tankers, and which is currently being bombarded by Russian aircraft. I am now studying this company’s records. It has partners in Turkey, and I am checking them for links to Albayrak.”

Erdem noted that he will conclude his investigation next week, after which he will hold a press conference bringing the information before the public. “This investigation is aimed at trying to figure out which illegal operations are taking place in our country’s oil trade,” he emphasized.

Moreover, he noted that since he began discussing the possible linkage between Albayarak and Daesh oil, he has been subjected to an all-out informational attack by pro-government media.

“Today, the Takvim newspaper called me an American puppet, an Israeli agent, a supporter of the [Kurdish] PKK, and the instigator of a coup…all in the same sentence. I am inclined to view this attack on me as an attempt to belittle my significance, to attack my reputation in the eyes in the public, given that my investigation is a real threat to the government. Such a sharply negative reaction suggests that my assumptions are fair, and I am moving in the right direction to find the truth.”

Ultimately, the lawmaker noted that the state-connected media’s reaction “have only convinced me further on the need to carry this investigation through to the end.”

Source:sputniknews

Turkey-Daesh Criminal Ties Extend Beyond Oil Smuggling, Stretch Across EU

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Erdogan and FamilyTurkey and the Islamic State’s collaboration on oil smuggling only scratches the surface of a much deeper and broader criminal partnership, one that oversees a variety of illicit activities ranging from human trafficking to financial scams with operations that stretch from Ankara to Amsterdam, experts told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday that Turkey is the main consumer of illegal oil from Syria and Iraq, accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of direct involvement in the oil business of the Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State.

“Daesh is entirely an organized crime operation in partnership with the Erdogan family,” security consultant and Veteran’s Today senior editor Gordon Duff told Sputnik on Wednesday. “The Erdogan family and their friends run organized crime in Austria, in Germany, in the Netherlands… which includes human trafficking on a massive scale, narcotics trafficking [and] credit card fraud.”

One year ago today, Duff noted, he delivered this very same message to Syrian officials during a conference in Damascus, outlining the wide range of criminal enterprises operated by the Erdogan and Daesh mafia syndicate.

With respect to the illicit oil trade, he explained, Daesh collaborates with a trucking and marine transportation company owned by Erdogan’s son, Bilal, that smuggles oil from Syria and Iraq into Turkey for export abroad.

“Now there are a series of pipelines across Turkey, more than anyone knows, some closer to the Iraqi-Syrian border than the typical drawings you’ll see, that offload into the Mediterranean and take oil to places like the United States for sale,” Duff claimed.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had received additional evidence that oil from fields controlled by Daesh, which is prohibited in Russia, were being transported to Turkey on an industrial scale.

Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald, authors of highly-acclaimed books on US foreign policy, told Sputnik that Moscow’s evidence against Turkish officials and Erdogan is both substantial and convincing.

“Turkey has been a major crossroads for narcotics, weapons and human trafficking to Europe for decades,” Gould and Fitzgerald said. “If Washington needs friends like this it’s getting what it deserves.”

Erdogan responded to Russian accusations of his family’s involvement in IS oil smuggling by claiming he would resign if unquestionable evidence on the matter was presented.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would hand over to the United Nations and all interested countries solid proof of Turkey’s involvement in illicit oil trade with terrorists.

Source:sputniknews

“Interesting Poll! Results collected in one hour…” 78% believed Daesh sells its oil to Erdogan’s”

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1031136282The poll showed that 78% of respondents believed that Daesh sells its oil to Erdogan’s Turkey.

The pundit then shut down his twitter account and brought it back a day later, writing an angry response, claiming that he was sabotaged by the Russian Embassy.

Dilipak is a fierce critic of Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and has called for Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be a new “Caliph” after a return of the Caliphate, which Ataturk abolished in 1924. On Novebmer 10, the 77th anniversary of Ataturk’s death, the newspaper Dilipak writes for published an article called “Tyranny Ended in 1938,” the year Ataturk died, which led to outrage in Turkish society.

Iraq Will File Protest at UNSC if Turkey Confirmed to Be Buying Daesh Oil

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1029374306Baghdad will immediately lodge a protest in the UN Security Council if claims that Turkey is involved in oil smuggling with Islamic State terrorists are confirmed, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

“If the Iraqi government receives enough evidence and details, without any hesitation it will file a protest at the UN Security Council and all other relevant international bodies,” ministry’s spokesman Naseer Nuri told Sputnik in a phone interview.

According to him, certain “general information about the smuggling of Iraqi oil by trucks to certain countries, including Turkey” is already available. “This oil is used to fund Daesh”, Nuri said.

“There is evidence, satellite photos and security services’ reports which confirm that Daesh smuggles oil to Turkey,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry has provided evidence of the Turkish involvement into Daesh illegal oil trade at the briefing in Moscow.

Moscow also expects that members of the UN Security Council will quickly adopt a revised Russia-backed draft resolution on curbing financing of the Islamic State (IS or Daesh in the Arab world) militant group, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Wednesday.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia had received additional evidence that oil from fields controlled by ISIL were being transported to Turkey on an industrial scale.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Tuesday that he was ready to resign if it were proven that Ankara was purchasing oil from Daesh.

Various estimates put the income generated by Daesh through oil sales on the black market at about $1 billion a year. Mowaffak Rubaie, an Iraqi parliamentarian and former national security adviser, told Sputnik last week that Daesh, an organization outlawed in Russia and many other states, has managed to sell some $800 million worth of oil on the Turkish black market.

Turkey’s leadership, including President Erdogan and his family, is involved in illegal oil trade with- Russia

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cought red handed(RT)Turkey’s leadership, including President Erdogan and his family, is involved in illegal oil trade with Islamic State militants, says the Russian Defense Ministry, stressing that Turkey is the final destination for oil smuggled from Syria and Iraq.

The Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning IS funding in Moscow on Wednesday.

According to Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, Russia is aware of three main oil smuggling routes to Turkey

Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region,” Antonov said, adding that this oil “in large quantities” enters the territory of Turkey via “live oil pipelines,” consisting of thousands of oil trucks.

Antonov added that Turkey is the main buyer of smuggled oil coming from Iraq and Syria.

“According to our data, the top political leadership of the country – President Erdogan and his family – is involved in this criminal business.”

However, since the start of Russia’s anti-terrorist operation in Syria on September 30, the income of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants from illegal oil smuggling has been significantly reduced, the ministry said.

https://youtu.be/nMA4B2ZnQ2o

“The income of this terrorist organization was about $3 million per day. After two months of Russian airstrikes their income was about $1.5 million a day,” Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy said.

For the past two months, Russia’s airstrikes hit 32 oil complexes, 11 refineries, 23 oil pumping stations, Rudskoy said, adding that the Russian military had also destroyed 1,080 trucks carrying oil products.

“These [airstrikes] helped reduce the trade of the oil illegally extracted on the Syrian territory by almost 50 percent.”

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, chief of National Centre for State Defense Control Lt.Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev said.

“According to reliable intelligence reports, the Turkish side has been taking such actions for a long time and on a regular basis. And most importantly, it is not planning to stop them.”

“One thing is clear. The role that Turkey is playing in this area is in many ways destructive and it’s affecting the European security, it’s affecting its neighbors. Ultimately it’s affecting its own society,” Uzi Arad, former head of research at Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency told RT.

Responding to the Russian allegations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that nobody had a right to “slander” Turkey by accusing it of buying oil from Islamic State.

Speaking at a university in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Wednesday, Erdogan once again claimed that he would resign if such accusations were proven to be true and stressed that he did not want Turkey’s relations with Russia to deteriorate further.

Iraqi Politician Claims Turkey Lets ISIL Sell Oil for Meager $20 a Barrel

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1029487593Turkey allows the Islamic State terrorist group to sell Iraqi and Syrian oil for just $20 a barrel, Iraq’s former National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie wrote on Saturday.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page al-Rubaie, who is also a leader of the Law-Governed State  parliamentary coalition, outlined Ankara’s four-pronged support for the Islamic militants, with the illegal oil trade topping the list.

“First and foremost, the Turks help the militants sell stolen Iraqi and Syrian oil for $20 a barrel, which is half the market price,” Mowaffak al-Rubaie  wrote.

Turkey in general, and Istanbul in particular, is also a place where ISIL commanders recruit local migrants and take them to Mosul in Iraq or Raqqa in Syria, he noted.

“Each month hundreds of radicals cross the Turkish border, while the local law enforcers pretend they just don’t see,” Mowaffak al-Rubaie wrote, adding that many wounded ISIL fighters were apparently undergoing treatment in Turkish hospitals.

During a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande in Moscow earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin mentioned the massive supplies of Syrian oil being sent to Turkey by the Islamic State terrorist group.

Trade Ties between Erdogan’s Son Balal and ISIL Main Cause of Russian Jet Downing by Turkey

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13940906000273_PhotoITEHRAN (FNA)- The large-scale trade and energy cooperation between the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ISIL terrorists group was behind the downing of the Russian fighter jet by the Ankara government, media reports said.

“The cooperation between Balal Erdogan and the ISIL in Syria and Iraq crude sales is the main reason why Turkey shot down Russia’s warplane,” the Russian-language ‘Trud’ newspaper quoted political analysts as saying.

The report comes as political observers have on numerous occasions announced that the ISIL gains between $40 million to $50 million per month from the sales of oil the terrorist group illegally extracts from the oilfields of Iraq and Syria.

In August, the European media published information showing that a joint British-Turkish company refines and sells the oil extracted by the ISIL.

Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets downed Russia’s SU-24 bomber that was flying in the Syrian air space which resulted in Russia’s harsh reaction and the two countries’ relations strained.

On Thursday, the Russian media reported that Moscow has already deployed S-400 missile defense systems in Syria, a move many political and military analysts see as the start of Moscow’s response to NATO following the downing of its bomber by Turkey over Syria.

The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) next generation surface-to-air missile system has been deployed to the Hmeymim airbase in Syria where the Russian Aerospace Forces group is stationed.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the deployment of the S-400 systems on Wednesday, a day after Turkish fighter jets had shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber, which had been taking part in Russia’s anti-terror campaign in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a “stab in the back, carried out against us by accomplices of terrorists.”

The S-400, an upgrade of the S-300 Growler family, is a new-generation anti-aircraft defense system operated solely by the Russian military. The S-400 ensures air defense using long- and medium-range missiles that can hit aerial targets at ranges of up to 400 kilometers (almost 250 miles).