Turkish PM denounces Russia’s ‘Pravda lies’ over ISIL

ANKARA - Agence France-Presse

‘They were called Pravda lies,’ Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu says, referring to the daily newspaper that was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. AA Photo

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu accused Moscow of running a “Soviet propaganda machine” with lies straight out of the Pravda newspaper after Russian officials claimed Ankara traded oil with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria.

Davutoğlu said that Russia’s comments reminded him of his youth when NATO member Turkey and the Soviet Union were on opposing sides in the Cold War.

“There was a Soviet propaganda machine in the Cold War era,” Davutoğlu told reporters at an Ankara airport before leaving for Azerbaijan on an official visit. “They were called Pravda lies,” he said, referring to the daily newspaper that was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

With tensions riding high between Moscow and Ankara following Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, Davutoğlu said Moscow was again behaving in the same way. “Russia’s Sovietic stance - that we thought it had forgotten - is coming back bit-by-bit,” he said.