Controversial website Wikileaks have published a 57,934 email archive of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak, who also acts as the Turkish Energy Minister. According to the report, the correspondence highlights Albayrak's questionable relationship with the terrorist organization ISIS via the oil company Powertrans.
Wikileaks report
The report, which has been covered by Khabar Online in Farsi, seems to support recent allegations that Albayrak had appealed to become the "unofficial" owner of the oil company Powertrans, which is importing oil from territories in Northern Iraq in Turkey, which are ISIS-held territories.
The emails are said to reveal the close-knit relationship Albayrak shares with the Turkish President, as well as his relationship with ISIS through his connections with Powertrans, who have received exemption to the embargo on road and rail importation and exportation.
Erdogan, oil, and ISIS
In 2015 ISIS had seized control of ten offshore oil fields in both Iraq and Syria and funded much of their training and terrorist activity through the income of exporting oil via the Syrian city of Raqqa and then through Turkey. In 2015 the Turkish justice system decided against the publication and reproduction of emails hacked from Albayrak's account by the Turkish hacking organization Red Hack, who claimed to have obtained almost 20 gigabytes of data from Albayrak's personal email account, leading to speculation over their authenticity.
Recent accusations have suggested the Turkish government and members of President Erdogan's family have played an active role in smuggling oil into the country from areas under ISIS control, with the recent leaked emails seemingly confirming this.
WikiLeaks emails show connection
A search with 'Powertrans' as a keyword in the leaked emails of Albayrak, which stem from April 2000 to September of this year, returns 32 results, including emails referring to salary issues the energy minister had with the oil distributors.
WikiLeaks claim that the Turkish government gave exclusive rights to Powertrans for the transit of oil, after initially banning oil transportation by road or railway in or out of the country in November 2011. This is not the first time Erdogan and members of his family have been linked with ties to ISIS, with opposition lawmaker Eren Erdem claiming that he would provide evidence of Erdogan smuggling in Islamic State oil, only for Erdem himself to face charges of treason two weeks later. Earlier in the year Turkey also faced a failed military coup, seemingly aimed at Erdogan's leadership.
