Courts in the United States cannot put Turkey on trial, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday, in reference to the case of a Turkish bank executive who has been charged with evading U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Already strained ties between NATO allies Ankara and Washington have deteriorated in recent weeks as Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, detailed in court a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions.
"My country can never be condemned by virtual courts set up by FETO scoundrels, fake representatives," Erdoğan said during a televised speech in the eastern city of Kars, referring to Gulen's group that Turkey has dubbed the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation".
"Someone has got up and decided they will apparently try my country in their falsely set-up courts. Don't bother!" Erdoğan added.
Ankara has cast the testimony as an attempt to undermine Turkey and its economy, and has previously said it was a "clear plot" by the network of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who is mastermind of last year's coup attempt.
Turkey has repeatedly requested Gulen's extradition, but U.S. officials have said the courts require sufficient evidence before they can extradite FETO ringleader.
Erdoğan dismissed the case as a politically motivated attempt to bring down the Turkish government and on Friday the state-run Anadolu news agency said Turkish prosecutors are set to seize the assets of Zarrab and his acquaintances.
Turkey has stepped up its pressure on the U.S. and on Saturday Anadolu quoted Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying that Gulen's followers had infiltrated the U.S. judiciary, Congress, and other state institutions.
