Vladimir Putin was right when he stated that Turkey de-facto supports ISIL militants and provides them with arms and equipment that they need to fight in Syria, US magazine Defense One reported.
After a Turkish Air Force F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 plane, which was on an anti-ISIL bombing mission, the Russian government harshly criticized Turkey's aggressive actions, describing the incident as a "stab in the back, carried out against us by accomplices of terrorists."
Turkey is complicit in funding the Islamic State militant group through purchase on the territory of Turkey of crude oil stolen from fields captured by ISIL
Russia revealed to the world something which the West has kept silent about — the two-faced nature of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his conflicting role, to say the least, in the fight against ISIL.
The United States and its Western allies ignored Erdogan's behind the scenes play, because Turkey provided its NATO allies use of Turkish territory and air space to carry out attacks on Syria, Defense One explained.
ISIL sells a massive amount of oil-refined products to illegal oil traders using routes through Turkey.
"In all, ISIL earns about half a billion dollars a year from such sales," Defense One reported, citing the Financial Times.
Furthermore, Defense One agreed with a statement, previously stated by Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian State Duma, that ISIL used Turkish territory as a transit place to bring reinforcements and arms to conflict zones in Syria.
Unlike the West, which needed Turkish support, which is why they tolerated Erdogan's double-game, Russia revealed the not-so-sincere-actions of the Turkish government in Syria, the US magazine said.
On Tuesday, a Russian Su-24 jet was shot down by the Turkish Air Force in Syria. The plane was downed by an air-to-air missile launched by a Turkish F-16 jet over Syrian territory, falling 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Turkish border.
Ankara claimed that it downed the Russian airplane because it violated Turkish airspace. Both the Russian General Staff and the Syrian Air Defense Command confirmed that the Su-24 never crossed into Turkish airspace and was shot down over Syrian territory.
The day before the downing of the Su-24, Russian airstrikes destroyed over 1,000 semi-truck tankers carrying crude oil to ISIL refineries, a large oil storage facility and an oil refinery in Syria.
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