PUTIN: Turkey shot down our fighter to protect ISIS oil

Putin says they have intel confirming that ISIS oil is shipped into Turkey from Syria and that’s why they shot down his Russian fighter:

RT – Russia has received additional intelligence confirming that oil from deposits controlled by Islamic State is moved through Turkey on an industrial scale, said Vladimir Putin. President Recep Erdogan said he will resign if this is confirmed.

Moscow has grounds to suspect that Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 on November 24 to secure illegal oil deliveries from Syria to Turkey, Putin said on the sidelines of the climate change summit in Paris on Monday.

“At the moment we have received additional information confirming that that oil from the deposits controlled by Islamic State militants enters Turkish territory on industrial scale,” he said.

“We have every reason to believe that the decision to down our plane was guided by a desire to ensure security of this oil’s delivery routes to ports where they are shipped in tankers,” Putin said.

Speaking in Paris on Monday, President Recep Erdogan said that he will leave office if there is proof of Turkey’s cooperation with IS.

“We are not that dishonest as to buy oil from terrorists. If it is proven that we have, in fact, done so, I will leave office. If there is any evidence, let them present it, we’ll consider [it],” he said, as quoted by TASS.

The countries from which Turkey buys oil are “well known,” said Erdogan.

Oh please. There’s no way this power-hungry-sultan-wannabe would ever voluntarily leave office, even if the proof was 100% undeniable. No, he’ll just deny it’s validity and stay in office.

Meanwhile, Russia is cracking down on local Turks amid this row with Turkey over shooting down their fighter jet:

ARUTZ SHEVA – Workers rounded up, businessmen questioned, a cultural center closed: the Turkish community in Russia appears to be under pressure a week after Ankara downed one of Moscow’s jets, as Russia issued a new list of banned import foods on Tuesday.

The officials hauled off around 400 workers – some Turkish and others from ex-Soviet Central Asia – to fingerprint them and conduct background checks.

“They said the check was due to national security,” Mebe’s deputy human resources director Irina Lebedeva told AFP on Tuesday. Eventually the laborers were let go, but the raid on Friday lasted all day and halted work at the company’s sites.

“We hope this will not be repeated. It did disrupt our work,” Lebedeva said. “Perhaps in the current situation it can be justified.”

The crackdown on the Turkish construction firm is just one of a litany of moves against Turks or Turkish interests reported in Russia since Ankara blasted a Russian warplane out of the sky on the Turkey-Syria border last Tuesday.

The downing has sparked a furious war of words between Ankara and Moscow and a raft of Russian sanctions against Turkey including a ban on some food imports, stopping the sale of package holidays to the country and reinstating visas for Turkish visitors.

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