Chefs falsely linked to ISIL serve kebab to journalists, Turkish officials

A senior Turkish government official and his team hosted a group of journalists, mostly from the foreign outlets, Dec. 7 to brief them about the latest tensions with Russia, albeit at a less than ordinary venue for a confidential talk - a kebab house in the heart of such culinary treats in central Istanbul that was recently targeted in the Russian press.

According to the Turkish official, the pick of the venue itself aimed at relating the baseless nature of recent Russian claims over Turkey that extend all the way to President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, as the owners of the restaurant in Aksaray were recently falsely named in the Russian media as Islamic States of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members, with a photo showing them with Bilal Erdo?an, the president's son.

"God sent you here," said ?smail Kember, one of the two owners, both of whom sport thick beards. "It is to show that we are not ISIL men," he said. 

"When this photo was taken, ISIL was not even around," said Ali Kember, the other owner and brother to ?smail.

Russia Today quoted "Turkish social media" in a caption for the photo of Bilal Erdo?an and the brothers, recirculating claims that had already been shown to be false. 

The Kember brothers, former musicians who say they swore off singing and playing the keyboard in 2000, call themselves as Turkish versions of "Cat Stevens," referring to the former British pop star who converted to Islam, changing his name to Yusuf Islam. 

Turkey and Russia have been at odds since the downing a Russian jet Nov. 24 for violating Turkish airspace. Since then, in addition to economic sanctions introduced by Russia, Moscow has directly accused Erdo?an's family of being involved in illegal oil trading with ISIL, a claim that...