Turkish Security HQ Summons FBI Representative

Turkish Security HQ Summons FBI Representative

By Sibel Ugurlu, ANKARA - AA-  Turkey-based FBI agent was summoned to General Directorate of Security in Ankara, a security official said on Wednesday. The FBI agent was summoned after Huseyin Korkmaz, a fugitive and former Turkish police supervisor, testified in a U.S. case against Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla. Korkmaz was arrested for his links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and released in February 2016. He fled to the U.S. in August with the documents related to FETO's judicial coup attempt of Dec. 17-25, 2013 in his possession.

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National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster with President Trump. Getty Images

US ‘Committed to Its Strategic Partnership with Turkey’

By Michael Hernandez - WASHINGTON -AA -  The U.S. said Wednesday it is "committed to its strategic partnership with Turkey to bring stability to the region and defeat terrorism in all its forms" amid a row sparked by comments from a senior Trump administration official. "We appreciate Turkey’s efforts to increase its border security, stem the flow of foreign fighters through its territory and fight on the ground to clear ISIS from key towns in Syria," a National Security Council spokesman told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Daesh.

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WASHINGTON, USA - DECEMBER 12: (from left to right) Mona Yacoubian, Andrew Tabler, Hassan Hassan, and Kadir Ustun attend a panel discussion on "The Geneva Process: Toward a Political Solution in Syria" hosted by SETA DC in Washington, USA on December 12, 2017. ( Samuel Corum - Anadolu Agency )

Turkish Think Tank Hosts Discussion in US on Syria

A panel of experts in Washington held discussions Tuesday on a political solution to Syria’s ongoing civil war. Hosted by Washington-based think tank SETA DC, the discussion was titled “The Geneva Process: Toward a Political Solution in Syria”. Mona Yacoubian, a senior advisor at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Andrew Tabler, Martin J. Gross Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Hassan Hassan, a senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and Kadir Ustun, executive director at SETA DC, took part in the panel. The discussion was moderated by Kilic Kanat, a research director at SETA DC. Participants agreed that actual developments in the field in Syria as well as peace talks in Astana and Geneva would directly affect a political process in the country.

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Groundbreaking at the Chobani factory in Twin Falls

As Chobani Expands Footprint in Twin Falls, City Reflects on Anti-refugee Backlash

By Patrick Sisson - Curbed.com - For Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of the Greek yogurt-making giant Chobani, Twin Falls, Idaho, helped his company expand in ways he could barely imagine when he arrived in the United States in 1994 as a Turkish college student who didn’t speak English. The small city of 48,000 in the Magic Valley, an agricultural center in the southern part of the state, home to the company’s 1 million-square-foot factory, will soon be the centerpiece of a new chapter for Chobani, one of the last decade’s most successful new food brands.

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Reza Zarrab (2nd R) sits with lawyers Erich Ferrari (L), Marc Agnifilo, and Benjamin Brafman (R) as he appears in Manhattan federal court in New York, US, April 24, 2017. ( Reuters )

What Is Atilla Case In the US About?

The US case against the Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab turned against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy CEO of Turkey's Halkbank, after Zarrab pleaded guilty and made an agreement with the New York prosecutor’s office. A US prosecutor ordered the arrest of an Iranian-Turkish businessman in March 2016 for breaching US sanctions on Iran. After two months, those sanctions were lifted. Preet Bharara announced in a social media post, “Reza Zarrab to soon face American justice in a Manhattan courtroom.” Zarrab has been under arrest for more than 22 months, and has been accused of money laundering, and fraud against the US and its banking system. However, before the first day of his trial, his role was changed from a defendant to a witness.  

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Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab was arrested in Florida last year by US authorities. ( AFP Archive )

Zarrab Spoke of the Need 'To Lie to Get Out of Prison' - Defence Lawyers

Reza Zarrab's has proclaimed his willingness to lie in exchange for leniency, according to a letter submitted in court by the lawyers for Halkbank executive Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who is charged with scheming to violate US sanctions against Iran. In a September 2016 recording, Zarrab is quoted as saying that there was a perceived need when incarcerated in the US to lie "in order to get out or to get a reduced sentence" and that "you need to admit to crimes you haven't committed" to get out of prison, the lawyers said.

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In a courtroom sketch Judge Richard Berman (second from right) and US Attorney Sidhardha Kamarju (far right) listen as Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, second from left, with an unidentified interpreter (far left) describe a scheme using a diagram he drew, outlining how he helped Iran to evade US economic sanctions, Wednesday November 29, 2017. ( AP )

Zarrab Acts As Witness During Atilla Trial, Cooperates with US Prosecutors

Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab on Wednesday accepted all charges that he was accused of and agreed to cooperate with US prosecutors against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of Turkey's Halkbank. The businessman was detained last year on charges of violating sanctions against Iran while Atilla was arrested in the US earlier this year on similar charges of sanctions violations. US prosecutors have charged nine people in the case, although only Zarrab and Atilla have been arrested by US authorities. The hearing began on Tuesday after US District Judge Richard Berman rejected a request by Atilla’s lawyers for a two-week delay.

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Reza Zarrab (C) with lawyers Erich Ferrari (L), Marc Agnifilo (2nd L), and Benjamin Brafman (R) in a Manhattan federal court in New York, US, April 24, 2017. ( Reuters Archive )

Zarrab Says He Paid $45,000 Bribe to US Prison Guard

Reza Zarrab said on Tuesday that he paid a $45,000 bribe to a US prison guard to obtain alcohol and use the guard's phone to speak with his wife, daughter and lawyer. During a hearing at a Manhattan court in the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Zarrab who is cooperating with US prosecutors, testified that he got the money through a Turkish attorney whom he did not identify. The US Bureau of Prisons could not immediately be reached for comment. Zarrab is the key US government witness in its case against Atilla, an executive at Turkey's Halkbank who is charged with scheming to violate US sanctions against Iran. He has pleaded not guilty. Zarrab testified on Tuesday under cross-examination by Atilla's attorney, Cathy Fleming, that he and Atilla did not like each other.

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In a courtroom sketch, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab (center) testifies before Judge Richard Berman (right) that he helped Iran to evade US economic sanctions with help from banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Wednesday, November 29, 2017. ( AP )

Reza Zarrab Testifies for Seven Days in "US Against Atilla" Case

On November 28, US prosecutors on “the US against Reza Zarrab” case revealed that Zarrab had gone from being a defendant in the case to a witness. Zarrab, a businessman who holds both Iranian and Turkish citizenship, made an agreement with the prosecutor’s office and pleaded guilty. He put former deputy CEO of Turkish state-run Halkbank at the centre of all accusations. “By testifying against Mehmet [Hakan] Atilla, Zarrab hopes he can buy freedom, a shortcut back to his lavish life with the rich and famous. He’s a liar, a cheater, a corrupter of men on a staggering scale…a one-man crime wave,” said Victor Rocco, the attorney of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who has denied any wrongdoing. Zarrab’s testimony started in Federal District Court in Manhattan the following day on December 29.

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Fugitive Hüseyin Korkmaz (L) and his wife after being released in Turkey

FBI Gave $50,000 'Assistance' to Gülenist Who Confessed Role in Op to Overthrow Turkey's Gov't: Court Hearing

Adam Klasfeld, a reporter for Courthouse News said late Tuesday that Gülenist Hüseyin Korkmaz testified in a trial in New York that the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave him $50,000 of "financial assistance" which he said he didn't ask for. Korkmaz has been an important name in the trial and has stood out with his contradictory statements, namely for completely denying while he was in Turkey that "he had anything to do with" the December 17-25 judicial coup attempt perpetrated by Gülenist terror group (FETÖ) to overthrow Turkey's democratically elected government, but later confessing after coming to the U.S. that he was actually the investigator of the case with eight officers working under his command.

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