Turkey: Erdoğan’s Family Venture Brought back the Man Who Set up Illicit Kurdish, ISIS Oil Scheme

Mar 22, 2021 | Abdullah Bozkurt, Nordic Monitor
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The Turkish president’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, brought his operative back from the shadows to run front company Powertrans, which has long been accused of transporting illicit oil from areas administered by the local Kurdistan government as well the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), when the jihadist group controlled oilfields. Ahmet Muhassıloğlu, a caretaker for Albayrak who designed a sophisticated scheme involving Singapore and the British Virgin Islands, returned to take over the Powertrans in 2019 after laying low for six years. According to the trade registry records, Muhassıloğlu, who left the firm after its launch returned to the company in December 2017 and became chairman of the board in August 2019.