Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that bilateral ties and accords with the US “are losing their validity,” following the conviction of a Turkish banker by a US court.
“The laws in our bilateral ties and the bilateral accords between us are losing their validity. I am saddened to say this, but this is how it will be from now on,” the Turkish leader told reporters in Istanbul, before his official visit to France on Friday.
Erdogan was commenting on the conviction of a Turkish bank executive at majority state-owned Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla. On Wednesday, Manhattan Federal Court found Atilla guilty of five charges related to bank fraud and conspiracy to violate US sanctions law. The case is part of a wider US probe into an alleged Turkish conspiracy to evade US sanctions against Iran.
“If this is the US understanding of justice, then the world is doomed,” Erdogan said.
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