Turkey furious over conviction of banker

TURKEY reacted furiously yesterday to the fraud conviction in New York of a Turkish banker after an explosive trial over Iran sanctions-busting that implicated former ministers and even President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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 Turkey’s 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.

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 Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who became a government witness after admitting his involvement in the multibillion-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.

Turkey’s foreign ministry branded the US ruling unfair and unfortunate, and a shame of law.

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the conviction was 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 US newspaper reports, had often raised the case in talks with US leaders.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, then part of Zarrab’s 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 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 it did not have legal value from Turkey’s 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 Washington’s refusal to extradite Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for orchestrating a failed 2016 coup.

Only last week, the governments resolved a crisis that resulted in the suspension of visa services for Americans in Turkey and vice versa.

The foreign ministry said the court in the US was influenced by some Gulen group members who made unrealistic allegations, with the ministry saying it destroyed the court process’s seriousness and credibility.

Bozdag went even further, saying the case was tangible proof that the CIA and FBI were engaged in judicial cooperation with Gulen’s group.

Atilla is due to be sentenced in New York on April 11.

Much of the case had focused on Zarrab, 34, and his sentencing date has not been scheduled. – AFP