RT documentary exposes the ISIS oil trade in Turkey

Russia Today aired a new documentary on Friday that revealed the secret oil deals taking place between the Turkish regime and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). The documentary is titled “In the Name of the Profit”; it is set in the Al-Hasakah Governorate town of Al-Shadadi, which was liberated by the U.S. backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF) in early 2016. Al-Shadadi is strategically located in an oil rich part of Syria that was once under the control of the Islamic State and their affiliates.

When RT arrived at Al-Shadadi, they found documents linking the Turkish regime to the ISIS terrorists that once occupied this town. Several passports with Turkish stamps were found, along with propaganda material that encouraged Muslims to Jihad against the Syrian government. More importantly, among the piles of paper, the RT journalists found detailed invoices that were used by the ISIS terrorists to calculate the daily revenues from their illegal smuggling.

“Of course, they wouldn’t get any weapons from Turkey if they didn’t ship them oil,” a teenage oil refinery worker told RT. “They … go with the oil and come back with the guns. And so they go, back and forth, back and forth.” In addition, the documentary crew was also able to record exclusive interviews with locals – as well as captured ISIL recruits – who shed more light into the ISIS oil trade. According to witnesses on the ground, militants who came from Raqqa and Aleppo to pick up the oil constantly mentioned Turkey as the final destination. One of the captured ISIL militants admitted that the terrorist group sells oil to Turkey. Others have admitted that crossing the border into the neighboring country proved to be relatively easy. “Crossing the Syrian-Turkish border was also very easy. It was like crossing the street,”

ISIS member from Saudi Arabia, Muhammed Ahmed Muhammed told RT. “A man told me that the ISIS erased the borders. That there were no borders. I’d heard about that, but I couldn’t quite get it until I saw it myself.” Ankara continues to deny any involvement or collusion with ISIS; however, RT has reached out to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for a specific comment on the documentary crew’s findings which Ankara has failed to provide thus far.

Besides collecting irrefutable proof of quite cozy relations between ISIS and Turkey, RT managed capture the mood of the populace who have lived and worked under ISIL yoke for months. They shared their untold stories of survival under the terrorist group’s rule.