Turkey Asks the U.S. to End the Case Against Reza Zarrab and Turkish Banker

Turkey has requested the United States to drop the charges against Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader, and a Turkish banker accused of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Bekir Bozdağ, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister, stated on Monday that the charges against Zarrab and Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla have 'no legal basis' and should be 'dropped or terminated.' In an interview with a private television network, he said, 'There is no concrete evidence against them, and illegal evidence cannot be used.' Reza Zarrab was arrested by U.S. authorities in March 2016, and the arrest of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of the state-owned Halkbank, occurred exactly one year later. Their trial was supposed to begin this week, but the selection of the jury has been delayed, and the first court session is now expected to be held on December 4. This case has angered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has repeatedly raised the issue in official talks with U.S. officials. Bekir Bozdağ has previously stated that the case has 'political motives' and that, from the Turkish government's perspective, the defendants are 'hostages of a blatant conspiracy against Turkey.' Turkish officials have also claimed that the case is the result of a 'plot' by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish cleric residing in Pennsylvania, whom Erdoğan has accused of orchestrating last summer's failed coup. John H. Kim, the lead prosecutor in the case, described the Turkish government's conspiracy claims as 'ridiculous.' He stated, 'This claim reflects a misunderstanding of how our judicial system operates. The defendants are charged with serious crimes. That is the only reason for the formation of this case and their trial.' Richard Berman, a federal judge in one of New York's districts overseeing the case, said that if the Turkish government claims these individuals are being unfairly prosecuted, they should provide concrete evidence instead of criticizing the U.S. prosecution. In the same vein, New York prosecutors called the political charge in Zarrab's case 'ridiculous.'