CORRECTS - TRT World to broadcast documentary on French cement giant Lafarge's ties to Daesh/ISIS terror group

CHANGES LEDE AND HEADLINE FOR MORE CLARITY, MINOR EDITS

By Dilan Pamuk

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish public broadcaster TRT World is set to air a documentary exposing France’s operation to support the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization through cement giant Lafarge.

The international English news channel will broadcast the first part of its investigation, The Factory: A Covert French Operation, at 1800 GMT on Nov. 12.

The exposè shows “how the Lafarge cement factory in Syria financed Daesh while being used as a cover by the French intelligence services.”

"The Factory was produced over a two year period with half a million documents being meticulously inspected - revealing dirty relationships behind funding int'l terrorism," TRT's Director General Zahid Sobaci wrote on Twitter.

“We did not expect the outcome would be this big when we started this project two years ago,” said Serdar Karagoz, the director general of Anadolu Agency. He was the editor-in-chief of TRT World before joining the Turkish news agency.

He added: “The dirty operations of the French company Lafarge in Syria are presented with evidence in this documentary."

Congratulating TRT World’s team of investigative journalists, Karagoz said it is “a documentary that would stagger Europe.”

- French support to Daesh/ISIS

Documents obtained by Anadolu Agency showed that Lafarge told French intelligence agencies about its ties with the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

The documents exposed how Lafarge, charged with complicity in crimes against humanity over funding Daesh/ISIS operations in Syria, had a relationship with the terror outfit that French intelligence was fully aware of.

French agencies used Lafarge’s network to get intelligence in the region, and maintain their operations.