The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had apologized to Turkey in a written statement over their claims on allegedly revealing Turkey’s oil trade with Daesh.
According to high level diplomatic sources, the incident happened in Sept. 2014 at the UN Security Council meetings in New York. During US Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Sept. 2014, Kerry implied that they have documents proving Turkey’s alleged oil trade with Daesh. While the Turkish side requested that the US provide documented proof immediately, the US delivered the alleged documents in Jan. 2015, following constant reminders from Turkey.
After careful examination of the CIA’s documents, Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) officials revealed that the geographic locations in the document that allegedly shows where Daesh’s oil trade was conducted with Turkey does in fact show the asphalt plant of the Turkey’s Kilis municipality in southeastern Turkey. Diplomatic sources also added that following this incident, US officials accepted their mistake and the CIA apologized to Turkey in early 2015. Speaking to local newspaper, a CIA spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
Even though Turkey is a member of the anti-Daesh global coalition, allegations claiming that Turkey has been smuggling oil with Daesh take place in the international press from time to time.
In 2014 and early 2015, several US media outlets presented this allegation, however, when the Russian Federation started to use same allegation against Turkey following the Russian jet crisis in Nov. 2015, US officials categorically rejected the claims.
“We reject the premise that the Turkish government is in league with Daesh to smuggle oil. We have seen no evidence to support such an accusation. In fact, Daesh oil smuggling has decreased over time due to the efforts of the Turks and other counter-Daesh coalition members to target oil extraction and transportation infrastructure,” US Ambassador to Turkey John Bass said in a written statement on Jan. 28.
