President Tayyip Erdoğan urged the United States on Friday to review charges against a Turkish former minister for violating U.S.-Iran sanctions, saying Ankara had never agreed to comply with the embargo.
Erdoğan depicted the indictment of ex-minister Zafer Çağlayan a political move against his country and called on U.S. authorities to "review" the decision. He said he would discuss the issue with U.S. officials.
"There are very peculiar smells coming from this issue," Erdoğan said.
"The United States needs to revise this decision," he added.
"I hope we'll get a chance to discuss this issue in the United States. You may be a big nation, but being a just nation is something else. Being a just nation requires the legal system to work fairly."
Former economy minister Zafer Cağlayan and the ex-head of a state-owned Turkish bank were charged with conspiring to violate the sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran's behalf.
The indictment, announced this week, marked the first time an ex-government member with close ties to Erdoğan had been charged in an investigation that has strained ties between Washington and Ankara.
"I assess the step taken against our former economy minister as a step against the Republic of Turkey," Erdoğan told reporters at İstanbul's Atatürk airport.
"We didn't decide to impose sanctions on Iran. We have bilateral ties with Iran, sensitive relations," he said, adding he had told former U.S. President Barack Obama as much, when the sanctions were in force.
"We said to the relevant people, we said we would not take part in sanctions... These steps are purely political."
The charges stem from the case against Reza Zarrab, a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was arrested in the United States over sanctions evasion last year.
