ISTANBUL: Turkey has criticized the sentencing of a Turkish banker in the United States over his role in helping Iran evade US economic sanctions, in a case that has further strained ties between the two countries.
In a statement late Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry called the trial against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an employee of Turkish state-run Halkbank, “an entirely feigned process which is inconsistent with the principle of fair trial.”
Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said Thursday on Twitter that no country has the right to “judge Turkey or Turkish institutions or punish Turkey.”
Bozdag accused the US and the court that tried the case of a plot against Turkey carried out in tandem with a US-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of leading a failed coup in 2016.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and has demanded that the US extradite him. Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, has denied the allegations. His freedom in the US has angered Turkey and caused a rift between the NATO allies.
The trial of the banker has strained the ties further, even though Atilla received a sentence that was seen as lenient.
A US judge on Wednesday ordered Atilla to spend 32 months in prison, including 14 months he has already served after his arrest last year during a business trip to New York on behalf of Halkbank. The sentence means Atilla can return to Turkey in about a year.
US probation authorities had called for a life sentence and prosecutors had argued for a 20-year sentence.
Prosecutors maintained that Atilla used his position as Halkbank’s deputy general manager for international banking to help build and protect a scheme that enabled billions of dollars in profits from Iranian oil sales to flow through world financial markets since 2011.
The US judge justified the shorted sentence arguing that Atilla was just a reluctant “cog in the wheel” of the alleged scheme.
The trial, which ended in January, had featured testimony about corruption at top levels of the Turkish government.
The key witness in the case was Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader, who testified he paid over $50 million in bribes to a former Turkish finance minister to help the sanction-busting scheme.
But the testimony that drew Turkey’s fury was from a former Turkish deputy police chief involved in a 2013 corruption investigation into the Zarrab scheme that broadened to include top Turkish politicians.
The government has accused Huseyin Korkmaz of links to Gulen and had dubbed the 2013 investigation a “judicial coup” against the government.
The Foreign Ministry said the evidence presented “eradicated the legitimacy of the trial.”
It also said the court made an “unprecedented decision” in the implementation of US sanctions laws by convicting and sentencing Atilla, “a foreign government official.”
Turkey slams US sentencing of Turkish banker on Iran scheme
Turkey slams US sentencing of Turkish banker on Iran scheme
- Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said Thursday on Twitter that no country has the right to “judge Turkey or Turkish institutions or punish Turkey.”
- The trial of the banker has strained the ties further, even though Atilla received a sentence that was seen as lenient
Supplier hub to anchor Saudi car industry, says TASARU CEO
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is stepping up efforts to localize automotive manufacturing, with its portfolio company TASARU announcing partnerships with five Tier-1 global suppliers to localize advanced component manufacturing in the Kingdom.
The agreements were announced at the fourth PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh. TASARU also revealed plans to establish a new Supplier Hub in the King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City, designed to support next-generation vehicle development and strengthen the national automotive ecosystem in alignment with Vision 2030.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the forum, Michael Mueller, CEO of TASARU, said: “You cannot build cars without having the right partners from the supplier side, and with that, together with the OEMs, we selected the partners that we just announced today to localize them.”
He added that the presence of large international suppliers is expected to attract smaller Tier-2 and Tier-3 manufacturers, helping the ecosystem scale.
The five partners include Shin Young for metal stamping and body structures, JVIS for exterior plastics, and BENTELER for chassis and hot-formed steel components. Guangxi Fangxin will supply interior systems, while Lear Corp. completes the group, with all expected to establish manufacturing operations in the Kingdom.
Founded more than three years ago, TASARU was established to introduce new technologies into Saudi Arabia’s mobility sector. The company has prioritized localizing smaller OEM and supplier businesses while bringing next-generation solutions into the Kingdom.
Mueller said visible progress on factory construction by Ceer, Lucid and Hyundai is shifting perceptions about the sector’s viability.
“A lot of people on the sideline watched whether automotive is really happening,” he said. “Now they recognize that the factories … are under construction, so that’s the first signal that it’s not just the bubble. It’s not just PowerPoint. It’s getting real now on the ground.”
The CEO shares that KAEC is positioned as a hub for Saudi Arabia’s automotive industry, making it a strategic location for the TASARU Supplier Hub. The facility is designed to support OEMs and next-generation vehicles, including Ceer and Lucid Motors, through a shared, just-in-time manufacturing model with integrated logistics and regulatory support.
TASARU will provide infrastructure and operational support, while partners bring technical expertise and gradually develop training centers to build a local workforce, Mueller said.
He positioned Saudi Arabia as an attractive base for global suppliers because of its access to minerals and rare earth resources, energy availability and coordination across PIF portfolio companies and government entities.
“They have access to minerals. They have access to rare earth. They can benefit from what is already existing. They have stable energy solutions. I think this footprint might benefit from the whole ecosystem as it is, not just automotive,” he said.
Companies without a Saudi footprint risk missing a “huge opportunity,” Mueller added.
He said advancing the industry will require clearer regulatory frameworks, including defined trigger points and licensing pathways that allow companies to execute their mandates.
“Of course, you need to have more or less the regulatory framework to allow autonomous cars, sooner or later, on the streets. But it's happening, and this is a huge chance also for Saudi Arabia,” Muller said.
He added: “If you are advanced in bringing such regulations onto a fast track, then you have a huge opportunity to be one of the first countries that establish this.”
With rising traffic levels in Riyadh, Mueller said emerging mobility technologies could help solve first- and last-mile transportation challenges.
“If the Metro is already full, that is good because people are using it. Now, you have to connect the dots. You have to finally make sure that people get from home to the metros and or to the bus station. So this first last-mile transportation is something where new technologies might help to bridge that,” he said.
The CEO said the project is expected to take roughly one and a half to two years for suppliers to go live. More broadly, the initiative reflects Saudi Arabia’s transition from investment attraction to full-scale industrial localization, strengthening local content, private-sector participation, and long-term industrial resilience in line with Vision 2030.
