Erdoğan's 'Goldfinger' Reza Zarrab, once 'patriot' now confessor

Both the Turkish government and the pro-government media had been guarding Zarrab until recently, and some others used to call him a "patriotic businessman" vehemently
Reza Zarrab recieves Exports Award from Turkish cabinet members.
Saturday, 02 December 2017 00:27

Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab implied in New York testimony Thursday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had authorised a transaction in a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. Zarrab also testified that he paid jaw-dropping bribes to a government minister to beat the economic sanctions against Iran and make him a fortune. 

For years, Erdoğan has scrambled to suppress inquiries into the money-laundering scheme, corruption and bribery payments to senior Turkish officials that accompanied it. The case began as a corruption investigation in Turkey in 2013, but Turkish AKP government quashed it amid a purge of investigators and prosecutors.

Kemal Okuyan, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey and soL columnist, wrote an article on the ongoing Zarrab case, reminding how Zarrab used to be of service for the Turkish government in the past.

Even their heroes are weird

Both the Turkish government and the pro-government media had been guarding Zarrab until recently, and some others used to call him a "patriotic businessman" vehemently. Zarrab had been, after all, developing Turkey-Iran trade by by-passing the sanctions of despicable Americans, thus earning the title of the "brave son" of both countries.

An interesting service mentality.

Zarrab did not invent lining his own pockets while serving his country. That's exactly the mentality of capitalist economy; they put national service, in a way, out to tender. It is not different from the build-operate model. Although it has a deep-rooted history, NATO is the prime example of the privatisation of serving one's country.

NATO had been allocating shares from its secret dealings to its gunman in addition to regular salaries in its counterguerrilla organisations dedicated to fight off communism. NATO fulfils its needs from drugs-trafficking; kills working class leaders and communists while enjoying the money from arms trade; extorts casinos and supplies its inglorious gangs.

All for the country!

The filth of the fascists spilt most in Turkey and Italy. The dark affairs of the Gladio inspired tens of movies and novels. Serving for one's country, or NATO was a powerful sector.

Remember Susurluk scandal in Turkey. It involved high wages, subsidies for each killing, discretionary funds, and impunity for secret dealings. Those people were forced to sink into filth up to their necks so that they would never betray their commanders.

"Turkey is proud of you", they would say.  

That's the case of Reza Zarrab.

Babak Zanjani, Reza Zarrab, Felah and Shams earned quite a lot of money from Turkey and Iran by helping them to bypass economic sanctions of the US imperialism. On top of that, they defrauded Iran. Some part of their gains had been dispatched as bribes in Turkey. It is only 8.5 billion US Dollars.

All adds up to patriotism.

And then?

The mercenaries of the "pseudo-fight" against imperialism transform into confessors when forced.

The Turkish government and the pro-government media call it a "plot" as the story of "patriotism" draws to a close.