He once again rejected Russian accusations of Turkey allegedly buying oil from ISIL.
“Shame on those who say that! Quite the contrary, Russian companies and ISIL sell oil to the Syrian regime. Turkey is not so dishonorable as to buy oil from a terrorist organization. They are slandering. Dear Putin is talking about the Turkish trucks going to Syria. Rumors solve nothing. Russia will turn out to be the liar. Dear Putin says those who implement double standards in terrorism play with fire. Yes, that’s true. [But] supporting [Assad`s] regime that claims 380,000 lives in Syria and implements state terrorism, is also playing with fire. Striking opposition groups that have international legitimacy with the excuse of fighting against ISIL is playing with fire. Using an incident in which Turkey’s righteousness is accepted by the whole world as an excuse to torment our citizens who were in Russia to attend a fair is playing with fire. Irresponsibly hitting trucks in the region that are there for trade or humanitarian reasons is playing with fire. We sincerely advise Russia not to play with fire,” he added.
Erdogan accused Vladimir Putin of slander, while insisting he does not want to worsen relations. “We really attach a lot of importance to our relations with Russia. Russian president has described the incident as a “stab in the back”. The Turkish people have never stabbed anyone in the back and are well familiar with face-to-face combat,” he noted.
Erdogan also expressed his willingness to meet Putin during the upcoming climate change summit in Paris in order to find common ground and avoid any further escalation of tension.
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