"As you know, Daesh enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time. I hope that it will be ended," Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Athens on Tuesday after meeting his Greek counterpart, Panos Kammenos, Reuters reports.
"It's up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation to fight terrorism. This is not the case so far," he said.
Zionist defense minister Moshe Yaalon
Yaalon’s counterpart, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, made similar statements, saying that a large part of the ISIS oil trade, as well as the financing of terror, is going through Turkey.
Earlier, Russia had accused Turkey of shady dealings with ISIS. In December, the Russian Defense Ministry released maps and satellite images it said proved that Turkey was the main consumer of oil smuggled out of Syria and Iraq by the terrorists. The ministry also claimed that the Turkish president and his family were involved in the criminal dealings.
In December, Syria’s envoy to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari also accused Turkey of supporting terrorist groups. The diplomat appealed to the UN, urging it to end Ankara’s "violations and crimes."
Turkey has denied the accusations, while the United States last month rejected Russia’s claims that the Turkish leadership was linked to ISIS oil smuggling.
Another force fighting against ISIS, an Iraqi Shia militia, has also alleged that the terrorists are freely crossing back and forth across the Turkish border, with Ankara providing militants with logistical support. Citing evidence gathered from prisoners and on the battlefield, a military spokesman for the Popular Front’s Badr Organization said the data they've gathered directly implicates Turkey's involvement with ISIS.
The comments from Turkey’s neighboring countries come as Ankara and Tel Aviv are trying to mend ties and negotiate gas imports. Senior Israeli and Turkish officials met in December to continue negotiations on the exportation of Israeli natural gas to Turkey, RT reported.
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