Energy Minister Taner Yıldız on Monday denied a US media
report that claimed Turkey was involved in oil trade with the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), saying that such allegations are
part of attempts to undermine Turkey's international reputation.
"I believe this report has a purpose,” Yıldız said in Qatar,
referring to a story in The New York Times that said Turkey was the
destination for black market oil supplied by ISIL. According to the
report the US has been trying to prevent ISIL from obtaining oil revenue
but failed to convince Turkey to stop the black market trade of oil
from ISIL into Turkey.
Yıldız said Turkey as a state respects the rule of law in all of its
transactions. Responding to the oil trade claim, he told the private NTV
station: "It is not our problem if someone says that ISIL oil is mixed
with oil coming from Kirkuk. This is an internal affair for Iraq. We
have not been informed about it, and the whole world knows we would take
the necessary measures if we were told about something like that.”
He said such reports aim to create the impression that Turkey supports ISIL, pushing Turkey away from the West.
Western intelligence officials cited in The New York Times said they
can track ISIL oil shipments as they move across Iraq and Turkey, but
the US has not yet attacked the tanker trucks. However, attacking tanker
trucks carrying ISIL oil "remains an option,” a senior administration
official reportedly said on Friday.
US officials speaking to The New York Times said Turkey could substantially disrupt cash flow to ISIL if it tried to do so.
"Like any sort of black market smuggling operation, if you devote the
resources and the effort to attack it, you are unlikely to eradicate
it, but you are likely to put a very significant dent in it,” a senior
administration official told The New York Times.
A visiting foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, Luay
al-Khatteeb, said: "The key gateway through that black market is the
southern corridor of Turkey. … Turkey is becoming part of this black
economy [that funds ISIL].”
Another expert quoted by The New York Times alleged that Turkey has
been turning a blind eye to the oil trade because it benefits from the
lower price of smuggled black market oil. "And I'm sure there are
substantial numbers of Turks that are also profiting from this, maybe
even government officials,” James Phillips, the senior fellow for Middle
Eastern Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, reportedly said.
("TODAY'S ZAMAN",
September 15, 2014)