Iran sanctions
Turkey furious over conviction of Turkish banker in US
AFP
Turkey reacted furiously Thursday to the fraud conviction in New York of a Turkish banker which came after an explosive trial over Iran sanctions-busting that implicated ex-ministers and even President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports AFP from Istanbul. The conviction of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, is set to further ratchet up strains between Washington and Ankara in an increasingly trouble-plagued relationship. The US court... has interfered in Turkeys domestic affairs in an unprecedented way based on so-called evidence that is only fit for forgery and political abuse, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. A jury in New York found Atilla guilty on Wednesday of five counts of bank fraud and conspiracy. The federal trial hinged on
the testimony of well-connected Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who became a government witness after admitting his involvement in the multi-billion-dollar gold-for-oil scheme to subvert US economic sanctions against Iran. His testimony implicated former Turkish ministers and Erdogan in the scheme, and identified 47-year-old Atilla as a key organiser.
Turkeys foreign ministry branded the US ruling as unfair and unfortunate, and a shame of law. Erdogans spokesman Ibrahim Kalin meanwhile described the conviction as a scandalous decision in a scandalous case and a shameful scenario. Erdogan had repeatedly slammed the trial as a plot against Turkey and, according to American newspaper reports, had often raised the case in talks with US leaders.
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, at that point part of Zarrabs legal team, had even met Erdogan in Ankara in search of a solution to the case.
Zarrab, a prominent gold trader, agreed to testify after striking a deal to plead guilty to violating US sanctions in a switch that infuriated Ankara. His assets in Turkey were later seized.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag blasted the case as a political plot, saying the jurys conviction doesnt have any legal value from Turkeys point of view.
This decision is against international law, he wrote on Twitter. Ties between Turkey and the US have been strained over a number of issues including Washingtons refusal so far to extradite the Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for orchestrating the failed 2016 coup.
Only last week, the two sides resolved a months-long crisis that resulted in the suspension of visa services for Americans in Turkey and vice versa.
The foreign ministry statement said the court in the US was influenced by some Gulen group members who made unrealistic allegations, with the ministry saying that destroyed the court processs seriousness and credibility.
Bozdag went even further, saying the case was tangible proof that the CIA and FBI were engaged in judicial cooperation with Gulens group.
Atilla is due to be sentenced on April 11. Zarrabs sentencing date has not been scheduled.
Much of the case focused on Zarrab, 34, a key figure in a 2013 Turkish corruption scandal in which he allegedly bribed four ministers to facilitate sanctions-busting trade and other deals.
