Just days after Turkey shot down a Russian jet, Russia’s defense ministry accused Turkey
of taking part in the ISIS oil trade.
Russian officials released photographs showing thousands of tanker trucks heading from ISIS
controlled areas into Turkish territory.
But Turkey’s President has said these accusations are slanderous, and that he will resign if
they are true.
So, what is going on?
Is Turkey actually buying ISIS oil?
Well, obviously it’s a little complicated.
Nearly half a billion dollars of oil are somehow being smuggled out of the Islamic State according
to the US Treasury Department.
By the end of 2014, ISIS was believed to control more than half of Syria’s oil fields, and
several more in Iraq.
And in February 2015, it was estimated that roughly 45,000 barrels of oil were being processed
a day.
So what happens to this oil?
According to Middle East energy analyst, David Butter, the oil is refined by paid engineers
while still on ISIS territory.
These refineries have been the targets of recent airstrikes by the United States, France,and
others, which has cut down on potential oil revenue.
But once the oil is refined, it follows an existing oil smuggling network established
by Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s.
At the time, Iraq was under UN sanctions, but relied on a quote “shadow network”
of smugglers running through Iraq into Turkey.
These same routes are believed to be utilized by ISIS, according to a former CIA counterterrorism
officer, by using Kurdish territory to move the oil West into Turkey.
Although it is difficult to determine where the oil ends up, it is believed to make a
stop in the city of Adana in southeast Turkey, which is home to what is called the BTC oil
pipeline.
An analysis by the University of Greenwich looked at oil tanker rates rising and falling
at the pipeline’s oil terminal.
These rates tended to spike during times when ISIS would fight near oil producing regions,
suggesting a link between ISIS oil production and shipping rates in Turkey.
The authors of the study are careful, however, not to use this as evidence of the Turkish
government’s role in the ISIS oil trade.
And while most of the actual buying and selling is believed to occur within Turkey, it is
likely among smaller, unaffiliated traders.
But what is perhaps more complicated is that Turkey’s President and his family are deeply
intertwined in the country’s state-owned energy services, including the oil port in
Adana.
Turkish intelligence services have also been accused of using Adana to transfer weapons
disguised as humanitarian aid to terrorist cells in Syria in early 2014.
To what extent the Turkish government is involved in the potential sale of ISIS oil is unclear,
if at all.
However, the lingering questions surrounding the shooting down of Russia’s plane, coupled
with a long history of politically suspicious behavior, suggests that Turkey may not be
as innocent as they claim.
But oil isn’t the only source of revenue ISIS sees.
To find out how the terrorist group makes their money, check out this video.
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