Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Turkish authorities on preventing the smuggling of oil produced in territories controlled by ISIL.

We maintain a close and regular dialogue with Turkey about matters connected with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including preventing the smuggling of oil. I visited Turkey 29-30 November and discussed issues related to ISIL with President Erdoğan.

On 10 November the UK convened a meeting of the Core Group of the Friends of Syria which includes Turkey. We reaffirmed our commitment to a genuine political transition in co-operation with the UN Special Envoy; supporting the National Coalition to deliver services and protect the Syrian people; and strengthening measures against the Syrian regime including restricting its access to oil and military hardware.

In New York on 23 September, President Erdoğan reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to fulfilling its obligations in the fight against terror. Together we have endorsed recent action at the UN to tighten the net around ISIL’s finance and recruitment operations (UNSCRs 2170 and 2178).