The lawyer of Turkey’s newly appointed energy and natural resources minister who is accused by Russians to have involvement on Daesh oil smuggling stories, refuted all the 'baseless' news stories and claims.
Ahmet Ozel, the lawyer of energy and natural resources minister Berat Albayrak, strongly denied any involvement in oil smuggling and transportation of Daesh oil, in a written statement on Wednesday.
'We have to make this statement for public disclosure against the unfounded claims as they should not be taken seriously,' said Ozel and added that the statement is also a reply to publicly asked question of 'Do the oil tankers hit by Russia belong to Albayrak?', which Eren Erdem, an opposition MP, raised.
'It should be noted that the all allegations are totally false and wrongly attributed,' he added.
The lawyer also stated that the Gulenist Media organizations are trying to manipulate the public agenda.
Ozel also said that Albayrak does not have any oil transferring tankers, and any direct or indirect ownership or link to any oil transferring company.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again refuted all claims on Wednesday that Turkish state has been purchasing oil from Daesh.
Erdogan's remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of buying oil from Daesh on multiple occasions.
Following the downing of a Russian warplane that violated Turkey’s airspace near the Syrian border on Nov. 24, Russia announced sanctions against Turkey and President Vladimir Putin has alleged Turkish involvement in oil purchases from Daesh.
Reporting By Muhammed Enes Can
Written By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
huseyin.erdogan@aa.com.tr