Turkish President Erdogan's week just went from bad to worse...
After yesterday's Zarrab trial confirmed Erdogan was responsible for the secret gold trade with Iran that enabled the nation to evade US sanctions...
"What I’m saying is that the prime minister at that time period Recep Tayyip Erdogan and minister of the treasury ... had given orders to start doing this trade."
The opposition party released documents today, including bank receipts, which it alleges show off-shore transactions by people in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle.
The names mentioned on the documents include Erdogan's close relatives and inner circle. dpa cannot independently verify the documents.
The Turkish president, leading the country for 15 years, has staunchly rejected the claims about off-shore transactions worth millions to evade taxes.
His lawyer says they are lies. The president pledged to resign if the claims were proven true.
CHP spokesman Bulent Tezcan showed the documents at a press conference that was broadcast online, saying: "Everything is written here." He promised to hand the bank documents, which are said to show transactions in the Isle of Man, to a prosecutor.
On Thursday, a prosecutor's office in Ankara announced it was investigating the CHP claims.
However, the AKP blocked a parliamentary investigation.
Erdogan and his relatives launched a 1.5 million lira (380,000 dollars) lawsuit against Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP), over the allegations, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
And so, in what seems like an attempt to distract, Turkish authorities are seeking the arrest of a former top CIA analyst allegedly involved in last year’s failed coup. (as AP reports)
Anadolu Agency reported Friday that Istanbul prosecutors issued a detention warrant for Graham Fuller, a former vice chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council.
The agency says the prosecutors suspect Fuller of being in contact with people who have been accused of participating in the coup attempt in some way.
Anadolu says Fuller is being sought on charges that include attempting to violate the constitutional order.
The Turkish government blames a Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for allegedly orchestrating the takeover attempt, an allegation Gulen denies.
Turkish officials think Fuller was instrumental in obtaining permanent U.S. residency for Gulen.
Interestingly, while the Lira is hovering at record lows, Turkey bond yields have plunged in the last week...