ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israel’s defense minister accused Turkey of funding the Islamic State group by buying its oil and letting the radicals enter Europe, as he urged Ankara to join the anti-ISIS alliance. ISIS has “enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time,” The Times of Israel quoted Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon as saying. Ankara has “allowed the jihadists to move from Europe to Syria and Iraq and back home as part of the Daesh (ISIS) terror infrastructure in Europe,” he added. The remarks came during Ya’alon’s visit to Greece on Tuesday, where he hoped for Turkey’s cooperation with the anti-ISIS alliance. “Now it’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government and Turkish leadership to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation in fighting terrorism… this is not the case, so far as you probably know,” he said. Russia has previously accused Ankara of buying ISIS oil, a claim that has been repeatedly denied by Turkish officials.
