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Turkey has ‘serious questions’ to answer: Reactions to RT report on post-ISIS town in Syria
RT,
24 March, 2016
The
stream of accusations is growing against Ankara over illegal oil
trade and support of Islamic State, with politicians and experts
calling for Turkey to be held accountable for its actions after a new
batch of evidence gathered by RT.
Former UK ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, has described as “very convincing” a report aired by RT which features piles of oil accounting papers left behind by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters.
“There
was plenty of evidence even before these latest – very damning –
revelations that Turkey was up to its neck in support for
collaboration with Islamic State,” he said.
According
to Ford, the “obsession” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan with removing from power his Syrian counterpart, Bashar
Assad, and preventing the strengthening of the Kurds in Syria saw
Turkey become eager “to stop at nothing, including collaboration
with Islamic State terrorists,” Ford stressed.
“It’s
not an exaggeration to say that if Turkey had sincerely tried to put
an end to the activities of Islamic State it could well have gone
slow and we wouldn’t perhaps even be having this latest atrocity in
Brussels,” the former ambassador stressed.
On
Tuesday, 31 people died in the Belgian capital in suicide bomb
attacks at the airport and subway. The attacks were later claimed by
IS.
Lord
Peter Truscott, a life peer in the UK's House of Lords, stressed that
Ankara has “serious questions” to answer following the
revelations by RT.
“RT's
report highlights some alarming evidence that Turkey is buying oil
from Daesh [Arabic pejorative term for IS], and is either supporting
or turning a blind eye to terrorists crossing its border into Syria.
If this is the case, Turkey needs to stop aiding Daesh in its
murderous activities,” Lord Truscott stressed.
Matthew
Gordon-Banks, a former Senior Research Fellow at the UK Defense
Academy and former British MP, told RT in an emailed response that
“there is no doubt that Turkey has helped ISIS gain huge revenues
in the recent past from illegally selling oil.”
Gordon-Banks
also praised Russia’s recent military operation in Syria, saying
that it had largely cut IS supply lines, hitting them both
economically as well as militarily.
Bernard Monot, a French member of the European Parliament, has slammed Ankara for the double game it’s playing with Europe.
Bernard Monot, a French member of the European Parliament, has slammed Ankara for the double game it’s playing with Europe.
“On
the one had they play along with us in order to get financial
assistance from the European Union, but on the other – there is a
feeling that they are in talks with IS… there is a feeling that
this ‘caliphate’ is working closely with the Turkish
president,”Monot
told RT.
The
joint ventures of Erdogan and Islamic State may include “illicit
trade in oil and, of course, training camps, which may be on the
Turkish territory,” the National Front Party member said.
As
for plans to include Turkey into the European Union, Monot stressed
that the Turkish state “currently
has nothing to do in the EU.”
Turkey
has been actively engaged in the Syrian war since the outset, and has
repeatedly denied that it is aiding IS. The claims have come from the
Russian military, the Syrian authorities, the Kurds and other
sources.
An
RT Documentary crew has visited towns in northern Syria recently
liberated from IS militants. There, the journalists obtained invoices
detailing the large-scale illegal oil trade carried out by the
terrorists, as well Islamist propaganda brochures printed in Turkey.
They
interviewed an IS fighter, detained by the Kurds, who said that the
group is selling oil to Turkey.
The
RT crew also filmed passports of the deceased or escaped jihadists,
many of which contained stamps issued at Turkish border checkpoint
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