Turkey denies supplying electricity to ISIL

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has denied media reports that Turkey provided electricity to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad when it was under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

A local media outlet report had claimed that the Dicle Electricity Distribution Company was supplying electricity to Tal Abyad from the Turkish border province of Şanlıurfa, based on a statement from an anonymous company worker.

“The news regarding electricity allegedly provided from Şanlıurfa to Tal Abyad in some national and international media outlets does not reflect the truth,” said Yıldız in a written statement on June 15.

Yıldız accused the media that continued to report on the issue, despite the electricity company’s denial, of being “malicious.”

Fighting between Kurdish forces and ISIL has escalated over the last week amid U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against the jihadists. Kurdish fighters seized Tal Abyad on June 15, but there has been a fresh influx of thousands of refugees across the border into Turkey.