Page 39 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2024

bne December 2024 Southeast Europe I 39
In 2022, Trump’s company partnered with Dar Al Arkan to create a luxury resort and golf complex in Oman’s capital Muscat (an aside: South Korea’s president is said to be practising his golf swing ahead of a hoped-for encounter with Trump).
The AIDA project includes a Trump- branded hotel, villas, and an 18-hole golf course overlooking the Gulf of Oman. The Omani government, heavily invested in the infrastructure, provided land
for the project. Concerns over labour practices were subsequently raised, with migrant workers reportedly facing challenging conditions and low pay.
Deals in the shadows of Trump Towers Istanbul
Istanbul’s links with Trump the busi- nessman go way back and with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on terms with both Trump and his incom- ing government “efficiency czar” Elon Musk, the “art of the deal” is not lost on the Turkish leader of three decades.
Trump Towers Istanbul was opened in 2012. Trump and his daughter Ivanka visited the investment following the inauguration ceremony.
The complex boasts two towers, a 39-storey residential tower and a 37-storey office tower, as well as a shopping mall.
It was in 2008 that Trump inked the licensing agreement with Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, a son-in-law to the Dogan family that owns Dogan Holding (DOHOL).
In 2016, Yalcindag attended Trump’s presidential inauguration. He went
on to become one of a trio of US and Turkish sons-in-law that turned into power brokers. The New York Times described Yalcindag as a go-between for then Turkish finance minister and son- in-law of Erdogan, Berat Albayrak, and Jared Kushner, the real estate investor, husband to Ivanka Trump, who became a senior White House aide to her father.
Media reports suggested Trump praised his “close friend” Yalcindag during phone calls with Erdogan.
In 2018, Yalcindag was appointed to head the Turkish-US Business Council (TAIK). Predecessor Ekim Alptekin was indicted by federal US prosecutors for his role
in hiring Trump's first national security advisor, retired general Mike Flynn.
Trump's relationship with Erdogan has often raised eyebrows. For instance, Trump blocked sanctions requested
by Congress over Turkey's purchase of S-400 missile defence systems from the Kremlin.
In 2019, Trump moved US forces
out of the way when Erdogan sent Turkish forces into northeast Syria to attack Kurdish militia who allied with Washington in the fight against Islamic State. Trump's first defence secretary James Mattis called the move “felony stupid” in Bob Woodward's book “Rage”.
In September 2020, Trump tax records published by The New York Times showed that he had collected $13mn in licensing fees from Trump Towers since 2008. He had previously claimed to have collected only $1mn since 2016.
Also in 2020, Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton urged
the House impeachment inquiry into Trump to look at how as president he had allegedly intervened in New York prosecutors’ investigations into Turkey’s Halkbank (HALKB) in order to curry favour with Erdogan.
Reza Zarrab, who turned state’s witness in the US in the Halkbank case after pleading guilty to taking part in an Iran sanctions-busting scheme, had an office at Trump Towers. Trump’s then personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, acted as an unregistered lobbyist for Zarrab in the US during the court process.
Luxury hotel designed for Belgrade site bombed by Nato
In the spring, it was revealed that Affinity Partners, an investment firm linked to US president-elect Donald Trump’s son-in- law Jared Kushner, plans to build a luxury hotel complex in Belgrade to replace the derelict Yugoslav General Staff headquarters, bombed by Nato in 1999. Kushner presented the project to Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in June.
Richard Grenell, US envoy for the Serbia/ Kosovo conflict during the first Trump administration, reportedly liaised between Kushner and the Serbian authorities.
Affinity also plans to develop a luxury resort on Sazan Island, a former Cold War military base and protected marine park in Albania.
US Senate Finance Committee chair senator Ron Wyden has warned that
the luxury developments planned in Serbia and Albania would give the governments of the two Western Balkan countries leverage over Trump family members.
Mehmet Ali Yalcindag with Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump at the Trump Towers Istanbul opening 12 years ago (Credit: The Trump Organization).
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