MHP head says Reza Zarrab ‘should be extradited and tried in Turkey’

ANKARA

Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab should be extradited and tried in Turkey if he has committed a crime according to Turkish laws, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said.

“If the charlatan called Zarrab has committed a crime in the U.S.’s own laws, he should be tried and should serve the necessary punishment. Who can oppose that? Who can be uncomfortable with that? If he has committed a crime in Turkey, on Turkish soil, the place where the account of the crime should be asked is the Turkish judiciary, not U.S. courts,” Bahçeli said on Nov. 28, addressing his party group at parliament.

“This dirty individual should be extradited to Turkey for these crimes and the U.S. should give the documents and information it has on this subject to Turkey,” he added.

“The trial of Reza Zarrab should only be provided with impartial and objective Turkish courts,” he said.

Reza Zarrab was arrested in the U.S. in 2016 for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The case also embroiled ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and state bank officials for allegedly participating in Zarrab’s criminal operations.

AKP officials have repeatedly characterized the case as a “political plot” against Turkey and Bahçeli also claimed the case had been “politicized.”

“It is as if Turkey is being judged, forced to sit in the dock and be interrogated through a dark personality who is of Iranian origin and a Turkish citizen,” the MHP leader said.

“The case in the U.S. is has moved away from being about the law. It has become politicized … With its suspect, witness, confessors, jury, experts, prosecutors and judges, a plot scenario has been staged,” Bahçeli added.