(New York, NY) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is calling on Nokan Group to clarify its potential role in the facilitation of oil smuggling from ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham a.k.a. ISIL)-controlled areas in Iraq and Syria.
Earlier this month, in a letter to Nokan Group Co-Founder Deler Saeed Majid, CEP CEO Mark D. Wallace sought clarification on whether Meer Soma Transportation Company, allegedly a Nokan subsidiary, has been enabling illicit oil and gas transfers from ISIS-controlled production sites, including the Baiji refinery, north of Tikrit, Iraq.
Nokan Group is a prominent group of companies for investment and industry in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that works in many fields, including trading, engineering, airlines, tourism, oil, building construction, agriculture and distribution.
“In order to generate cash revenues from its control of these resources, ISIS has established a thriving oil venture, smuggling out oil and gas via trucks, tankers, and existing pipelines,” the letter read. Given the extent of ISIS-related atrocities committed against the Kurdish civilians, “it is confounding how any reputable business or entity, particularly one of Kurdish provenance, could knowingly engage in ISIS-related business activities,” the letter continues. “As recorded in several major media online publications, it appears that trucks owned and/or operated by Meer Soma, in particular, are being used to transport refined petroleum products from ISIS-controlled refineries to Kurdish entities in or near Kirkuk.”
The letter includes a photograph of a Meer Soma truck purportedly transporting ISIS-sourced oil to Kurdish middlemen. CEP has received no response from Nokan Group.
As former U.S. Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen has noted, “With the important exception of some state-sponsored terrorist organizations, ISIL is probably the best-funded terrorist organization we have confronted…earn[ing] approximately $1 million a day from oil sales.”
The United Nations Security Council, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates have passed tough measures specifically prohibiting the sale or purchase of oil products from ISIS, or the provision of services that facilitate its oil trading operations.
The Counter Extremism Project seeks to combat the complex challenges posed by extremist ideology and violence. The letter to Nokan Group is part of a broader campaign designed to target the financial foundations that provides extremist groups and their supporters the resources to wage war, murder, enslave and threaten innocent, peace loving-people throughout the world.
Click here to read the full CEP letter to Nokan Group.
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About The Counter Extremism Project (CEP)
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideology. Led by a renowned group of former world leaders and former diplomats, CEP aims to combat extremism by pressuring financial support networks, countering extremist narratives and online recruitment, and advocating for effective laws, policies, and regulations.