FOREIGN POLICY/LEGAL/STATE/TURKEY: “A trial opening in Manhattan on Monday [11-27-17] that could implicate prominent Turkish officials is exacerbating already inflamed tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, where authorities are calling the case an American plot to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The arrest of Reza Zarrab, a Turkish gold trader, in Miami last year on charges of conspiring with Turkish banking and government officials to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions upset the authorities in Ankara. At the time, Mr. Erdogan said U.S. prosecutors may have had ‘ulterior motives’ to implicate his government. Now, indications that Mr. Zarrab, a 34-year-old businessman, may be cooperating with U.S. prosecutors is further infuriating Turkish government officials…
The State Department has denied Turkey’s accusations.”
-David Gauthier-Villars and Robert McMillan, “Sanctions Trial in U.S. Riles Turkish Officials,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 26, 2017 03:50pm