Koç Group buying ISIL oil, according to Russia

Have I not been opposing Turkey’s Syria politics from the very beginning? Yes, I have been. 

Have I not been saying that Turkey, particularly at the beginning of the Syrian crisis was, at the least, tolerant of foreign fighters crossing the border? Yes, I have been. 

Have I not been claiming that Turkey, with the dream and desire of toppling Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, was among the instigators of the civil war at the beginning of the crisis? Yes, I have been. 

But that is the place I stop. Am I going to accept, without making the slightest objection, quietly, the nonsense brought up by the Russians as “Turkey is buying oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL]” and other nonsense all together? 

The other day, Russian generals staged a play. The screen behind them was a giant one. The generals were quite serious and sulky. The organization of the press briefing was perfect. No expense was spared for visual material.

However, come to think of it… The claims they brought up were totally baseless. 

Even one example is enough to prove their falseness. 

The Russian generals, in that press statement, claimed ISIL oil was transferred to Turkish energy giant TÜPRAŞ’s facilities in the southeastern province of Batman. Well, who owns TÜPRAŞ? It belongs to the Koç Group. 

In other words, if we are to believe these sulky Russian generals, then we should also believe that the Koç Group was buying oil from ISIL. 

The Russians were so exaggerating in their palavers and tales, they got so carried away that they also loudmouthed that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan was the financial founder of ISIL and the military brain behind it. As proof of this, they showed photographs of the younger Erdoğan taken with kebab shop owners and employees with beards. They captioned those photos: “Here is Bilal Erdoğan surrounded by ISIL members.”

In these kinds of situations, in my hometown, we say, “Come on man, just keep walking.”

Advice on Putin for Turkey’s rulers

First, let him talk. Let him get it out of his system. Let him calm down. After a while, he will be quiet.
 
Second, do not pay attention to his threats of, “Look, you will see. I am going to bite you real bad.” If he were to bite, he would not threaten. 

Third, wait for him to increase the number of items he brings forward as proof. As the amount of his false evidence increases, he will be further humiliated. 

Journalists in jail for nine days 

When journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener were arrested within the scope of the “Ergenekon” case, it was columnist Ruşen Çakır who created a space in his column counting the days Ahmet and Nedim spent in jail. He was always writing and declaring, “Ahmet and Nedim have been under arrest for so many days.”

I learned it afterward that this tiny space Çakır created in his column was a leg to stand on for Şık and Şener in their prison days. With this follow up, they always felt that they had not yet been thrown into the “garden of the forgotten.” 

Now, today, Çakır does not have a column. For this reason, I am taking over the duty. This time, I am keeping a tally of the number of days Can Dündar and Erdem Gül have been under arrest. The first tally is today.

CAN DÜNDAR AND ERDEM GÜL HAVE BEEN UNDER ARREST FOR NINE DAYS.