Fertilizer, Also Suited for Bombs, Flows to ISIS Territory From 'Sometimes NATO Ally' Turkey. (NYT).
AKCAKALE, Turkey — The laborers work all day, piling bags of fertilizer onto carts and wheeling them through the crossing that connects this southern border town to Syria.
The Syrian town next door is firmly controlled by the extremists of the Islamic State, as is clear from the black flag flying over downtown. And while the fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, is widely used for agriculture, it has also been used by terrorists around the world — including the Islamic State — to build powerful explosives.
Few here think the fertilizer is meant to help Syrian farmers.
“It is not for farming. It is for bombs,” said Mehmet Ayhan, an opposition politician from Akcakale who is running for Parliament. But he did not oppose the deliveries, saying they created jobs in his impoverished town.
“As long as the Turkish people benefit from this — regardless of where it goes on the other side — it is a good thing,” Mr. Ayhan said.
The open transport of ammonium nitrate into Islamic State territory points to lingering questions about Turkey’s commitment to isolating its jihadist neighbors. Yet for the people here, the cross-border trade offers some relief in an economy that has been battered by the war in Syria.
Analysts said Turkey had recently made efforts to secure its border and to halt the flow of foreign fighters. But the country still allows cross-border trade that gives the Islamic State access to goods from energy drinks to fertilizer.
“Trade continues to go into the north, not just to ISIS, but ISIS is a tangential beneficiary of the trade policy,” said Aaron Stein, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute who studies Turkey. Hmmm.....As long as Obama protects his BFF Erdogan this 'game' will continue, Erdogan is Iran and Isis their 'lifeline'.Read the full story here.
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