Zarrab should not be tried in US: MHP leader

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has claimed that the New York trial of former Halkbank Executive Hakan Atilla is “biased and political,” adding that that the key witness of the case, Reza Zarrab, should be tried in Turkey.

“Turkey is being tried in biased and political courts formed in the U.S. We will not give consent to this or stay silent to it,” Bahçeli said on Dec. 5.

“A so-called judicial system which has unsteady allegations, known intentions and a numb jury, which has turned Turkey into a defendant and a charlatan into a witness will always receive our rage,” he added.

Zarrab is a key witness in the New York case in which former Halkbank executive Hakan Atilla is being tried for evading U.S. sanctions on Iran.

“A dark, fugitive individual, traitor and spy has been occupying Turkey’s public opinion with his dirty and venomous confessions. There are even speculations about how he escaped or was helped to escape,” Bahçeli said.

“We don’t say that there is no crime. We don’t say that the charlatan should not be tried. But where the crime was committed the judicial authority and legal boundaries are there. That is the Republic of Turkey,” he said.

Reiterating Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) criticism of the case, Bahçeli described the Atilla case as “a plot against Turkey.”

“The provision of the international plot will not be applicable to Turkey. FETÖ members’ seeking of vengeance will hit a wall and the enemies of Turkey will taste frustration,” he said.