Erdoğan Slams New York Times For ISIL Story

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at The New York Times on Wednesday over a report saying the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily attracting Turkish recruits, calling the report “shameless."

The New York Times ran the story on Monday with a photo of Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu leaving a mosque in Ankara's Hacı Bayram neighborhood, which the report said has become a recruitment hub for ISIL.

“A media organization in the US accuses us of supporting terrorist organizations by posting a photo of me and Davutoğlu,” Erdoğan told a gathering of the Turkish Tradesmen's and Artisans' Confederation (TESK). “This is, in the clearest of terms, shameless, ignoble and base,” he said.

The New York Times report focused on Hacı Bayram, where it said about 100 people have joined ISIL abroad, indicating that its locals tried to approach Erdoğan and Davutoğlu to raise the issue of ISIL recruitment when the two went to the historic Hacı Bayram-ı Veli Mosque.

The report said as many as 1,000 Turks have joined the ranks of the extremist group, citing local media reports and Turkish officials.

Erdoğan has also criticized a report from The New York Times claiming that Turkey has been involved in the oil trade with ISIL.

“Portraying Turkey as a state that supports terrorism, turns a blind eye to terrorism is tactlessness. They say Turkey is purchasing [ISIL] oil, they [ISIL insurgents] have been getting treatment in Turkey. … Such a thing is impossible,” he said.

In remarks to a group of journalists on a return flight from Qatar late on Monday, Erdoğan said The New York Times is "very skilled at fabricating false reports," adding that he had also told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US media were publishing false reports. "These [reports] aim not to show Turkey's real face but to harm Turkey-US ties and Turkey's relations with other countries. These are not true. These approaches are evil-minded,” he said.

The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing Western intelligence officials, that ISIL oil shipments can be tracked as they move across Iraq and Turkey, but the US has not yet attacked the tanker trucks. However, attacking tanker trucks carrying ISIL oil “remains an option,” a senior administration official reportedly said last Friday.

US officials speaking to The New York Times said Turkey could substantially disrupt ISIL's cash flow if it tried, but had not done so.

Erdoğan also stated that what he called the "perception operation" to create a negative image of Turkey will be taken to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“Turkey is a great country that cannot drop to its knees before such false reports. For us, the 49 people [46 Turkish nationals and three others] who are held in Mosul are more important than anything. We have responsibilities; we have to be careful in our statements. I regret to state that some treasonous networks that don't have this sensitivity carry water to the mill of the others [ISIL militants]… We will tell world leaders about this ugly perception operation during the UN General Assembly on Monday,” he said.

Turkey claims that its hands are tied due to the 46 Turkish nationals who were kidnapped by ISIL from the Turkish Consulate General in Mosul over three months ago. Turkish officials have imposed a gag order on Turkish media coverage of the hostage issue, claiming that they do not want news stories to put the hostages' lives at risk.

Turkey also refused to sign an anti-ISIL communiqué at a counterterrorism meeting in Jeddah last week. A senior Turkish official said Ankara had refrained from signing the communiqué in part due to the sensitivity of efforts to free the 46 Turkish hostages captured by ISIL fighters in Iraq. However, pro-government elements of the Turkish media have run articles expressing broader skepticism about Obama's plans.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)