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as long as Turkey attempts to attain its political goals with war and force,” VW’s global works council chief and supervisory board member Bernd Osterloh was quoted as saying in a staff newspaper.
Same in the UK​. UK trade unions and Labour MPs voice concerns over proposed sale of British Steel to Turkish military fund following alleged Syria atrocities.
2.5​ US recognises Armenia genocide
On October 29, the proclamation day of the Republic of Turkey, the Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives passed two resolutions with near total consensus to advise Republican US President Donald Trump to recognise the Armenian “genocide” and sanction Turkey for its “military invasion of northern Syria”.
Under Trump’s rule, the House is struggling to find its teeth. There are similarities to how the Turkish parliament is struggling to play any significant role under the “executive” Erdogan regime. It’s not difficult to imagine the two resolutions making no headway and amounting to mere ‘noise’ as Trump goes on stalling the US establishment’s salvoes.
However, given that the sanctions bill emanating from the House makes direct reference to Erdogan and his family along with Halkbank, Albayrak may have found another reason why he should not be meeting investors on US soil right now.
If the sanctions package makes its way through the Senate to Trump it will be up to him whether he actions all or part of it.
2.6​ Iranian sanctions buster named head of Istanbul bourse
Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former executive of Turkey’s state-owned Halk Bankasi (Halkbank) who was jailed by a Manhattan court for his role in an Iran sanctions-busting money laundering scheme, was on October 21 named director general of the Istanbul stock exchange​.
Atilla, who was formerly Halkbank’s deputy general manager with responsibility for international banking, was named general director of the Borsa Istanbul by Berat Albayrak, the finance minister who is also Erdogan’s son in law.
Early in Trump’s term, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hired by the central figure in the case, Reza Zarrab, a flambouyant Iranian-Turkish gold trader, who in the trial implicated Erdogan in the sanctions-evasion operation. Giuliani conducted a shadow diplomacy effort to win his client’s freedom and on Giuliani’s behalf, Trump asked a member of his cabinet to steer prosecutors away from the case.
Several months after the sanctions-busting trial of Atilla ended with his conviction in early 2018, US officials entered into talks to negotiate a possible penalty with the bank. But no settlement was announced and the broader case seemed to go dormant.
Zarrab has related in court how he helped Iran tap funds from overseas oil sales that were frozen in foreign accounts. He pleaded guilty having become the star prosecution witness against Atilla.
EBRD opposes naming of Halkbank executive convicted in US as
10​ TURKEY Country Report​ November 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com