Turkish president Erdoğan says U.S. trying to use Zarrab as informer

"A junta within the American bureaucracy that is related to the previous administration aims to sabotage relations between the new administration and Turkey,” Erdoğan says
Thursday, 12 October 2017 17:56

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday the U.S. authorities had wrongly arrested the former head of state-owned Halkbank, Hakan Atilla, and were trying to use a detained Iranian- Turkish gold trader, Reza Zarrab, "as an informant". Both men were arrested on charges of sanctions violations. The arrests threaten to reopen a case that reached right into Erdoğan’s inner circle and to tarnish the ruling AKP party that he founded.

Referring to a U.S. grand jury indictment of 15 Turkish security officials who clashed with protesters during his visit to Washington in May, Erdoğan said most of them had never set foot on U.S. soil. "You issue arrest warrants for 13 of my security staff who have never seen the United States," Erdoğan said.

Addressing a group of regional governors Erdoğan also said that the U.S is sacrificing ties by supporting its ambassador to Turkey in the diplomatic spat that resulted in the two countries suspending the issuing of travel visas to the other's citizens.

"It is the ambassador who created this. It is unacceptable for America to sacrifice a strategic partner like Turkey for an impertinent ambassador," Erdoğan said in reference to U.S. Ambassador John Bass. A junta within the American bureaucracy that is related to the previous administration aims to sabotage relations between the new administration and Turkey,” he added. Bass' term in Turkey ends this week.

Erdoğan also slammed Washington for providing arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria while blocking the sale of U.S.-made weapons to Turkish security personnel. He said that Turkey would retaliate by cancelling plans to supply its police force with American guns.

"We are not a tribal state, we're not dependent on you. We are the state of the Republic of Turkey and you will accept it," Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan claimed that the U.S. was hiding a suspect in its İstanbul consulate who is linked to the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, one of the masterminds of last years coup attempt.

On Monday, Turkish prosecutors summoned another local employee working at the US consulate in İstanbul. 

Turkish authorities this week detained his wife, his son and his daughter. Bass had denied this the day before, telling reporters: "No one's hiding at any of our facilities."

The U.S. this week halted most visa services for Turkish citizens after Turkish authorities arrested Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. Topuz was detained on charges of espionage and alleged ties to the Gülen network.

Erdoğan spokesman İbrahim Kalın said Thursday that Turkey was assessing a U.S. proposal for resolving the visa dispute. Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül said Topuz, the arrested consulate employee, would be allowed to see a lawyer on Friday.