The Turkish government has described a court case in the US that has aroused the ire of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a plot against Turkey, saying that the suspects were being held like hostages.
Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian national, and Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy chief executive of Turkish lender Halkbank, are being held in the United States on charges of violating sanctions against Iran.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
They are to go on trial on November 27.
Turkish officials have already accused the prosecutors behind the case of having links to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Islamic preacher who Ankara blamed for last year’s failed coup, accusations he denies.
“This is a political case devoid of any content,” the government spokesman, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Erdogan.
“This case is a plot directed against Turkey. Quite clearly the defendants ... are being subjected to pressure,” he added. “They are being held like hostages.”
The case has intrigued opponents of the government in Turkey, where Zarrab was linked to a 2013 corruption scandal that Erdogan denounced as a plot by Gulen to bring down his government.
The intrigue has been intensified by American reports that Zarrab is now co-operating with the US prosecutors, raising the prospect of a plea bargain that could embarrass Ankara.
Zarrab and his lawyers did not appear in Manhattan federal court yesterday, further indication that he may have reached an agreement to co-operate with US authorities and will not be tried.
Zarrab has not appeared in court or submitted any filings since September.
The second defendant, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was present with his lawyers.
Atilla’s lawyers said in a court filing last month that it was “likely” Atilla would be the only defendant on trial.
Bozdag accused the US prosecutors of trying to force the suspects to give statements that will tarnish Turkey but insisted there was “no legitimate evidence”.
“It is very clear the main goal is to damage economic relations with Iran, relations with Russia and economic relations with other countries,” Bozdag said.
Bozdag drew parallels between the December 2013 corruption scandal and this current case, claiming Gulen “had then failed to launch a coup in the (Turkish) judiciary and is now repeating it in the US judiciary”.
Erdogan has repeatedly called for the release of Zarrab and Atilla, with the issue becoming another bone of contention in the troubled relations between Ankara and Washington.
Zarrab was arrested by US authorities in March 2016 after flying with his pop star wife Ebru Gundes and their daughter to Miami for a Disney World holiday.
Turkish prosecutors on Saturday launched a criminal probe against the American attorneys behind the case – former attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara and his successor Joon Kim – on accusations of fabricating the case.
When asked for comment, Bharara referred Reuters to Kim’s office.
James Margolin, a spokesman for that office, declined to comment.
The Turkish probe follows allegations made on Friday by Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, that the US case is based on documents fabricated by followers of Gulen.
Cavusoglu said the US case was “exactly the same” as an earlier case prepared by Turkish prosecutors, which he said was also driven by Gulen.
In that case, which became public in 2013, Turkish prosecutors accused Zarrab and high-ranking Turkish officials of facilitating Iranian money transfers via gold smuggling, leaked documents at the time showed.
Erdogan, then prime minister, cast the investigation as a coup attempt by political enemies.
Several prosecutors were removed from the case, police investigators were reassigned, and the investigation was later dropped.
Erdogan: has repeatedly called for the release of Zarrab and Atilla.
