During an appearance on Sirius XM’s “Breitbart News Daily”, Donald Trump stated that the Turkish government “looks like they’re on the side of Daesh more or less based on the oil”.
This makes Trump the first presidential candidate to confirmTurkey’s role in Daesh oil trade to the American people.
Just a few days ago Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Turkey of being “secret allies” with Daesh.
The Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning Daesh 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 Daesh from illegal oil smuggling has been significantly reduced, the ministry said.
