Donald Trump’s puzzling relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long perplexed policy watchers. Things have become much clearer after the release of The Room Where It Happened, the new book [Gus: a pack of lies] from former National Security Advisor John Bolton [a major warmonger], which reveals new details about Trump, Erdogan, and Iran that should worry the public even more.

The most perplexing detail, less well-known to the public but frequently mentioned in Bolton’s book, is Trump’s soft spot for Halkbank — Turkey’s second-largest state bank, which federal prosecutors in October charged with helping Iran evade sanctions. Trump’s acquiescence in Erdogan’s tireless efforts to shield the Turkish bank and its accomplices from legal action remains sharply at odds with the U.S. president’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The Halkbank saga goes back to Obama-era sanctions against Iran and the Turkish lender’s role — with Erdogan’s approval — in helping Tehran illicitly transfer tens of billions of dollars, as part of one of the biggest sanctions-evasion schemes in history. U.S. authorities arrested Reza Zarrab, the Iranian-Turkish ringleader of the conspiracy in March 2016, along with Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Halkbank’s deputy general manager, in March 2017, for their respective roles in the scheme.

Zarrab then turned state’s witness in the high-profile Manhattan case that led to Atilla’s conviction in January 2018 for his participation in a “scheme to violate U.S. economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Attila received 32 months in prison, a ruling a federal appeals panel upheld on July 20. Halkbank, charged for the same scheme in October 2019, pleaded not guilty in a court in the Southern District of New York on March 31 and has moved for the recusal of the judge overseeing the case.

Read more:

https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/07/trump-should-teach-erdogan-less...

Following the appeal by a group of Saudi personalities, a movement to boycott Turkish products is spreading throughout the Arab world (barcode starting with "8 69"). It has caught on particularly in Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, eastern Libya, and Syria.

This boycott, which was launched during the Kashoggi affair (December 2018), has restarted in solidarity with the Armenians in Karabakh.

Given the current difficulties of the Turkish economy, it constitutes a real danger to many businesses, especially in the food and textile sectors. It would turn into a catastrophe were it to hit the European Union.

For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called for a boycott of French products in the Muslim world. It is only being followed in Qatar.

Read more :

https://www.voltairenet.org/article211489.html

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Armenia either goes with Russia or falls into abyss of national catastrophe

World » Former USSR

by Inna Novikova

Why did the military victory parade in Azerbaijan take place? Was it an act of visualisation of success? What did Azerbaijan want to show? The internal political situation in Armenia remains extremely acute. The opposition is trying to remove Pashinyan from power, whom they see as a symbol of defeat. Why is he still in the office? What was the point of the military parade? Was it a declaration for the future?

It was most likely an act of symbolism, and it was not incidental. From the very beginning it was announced that Azerbaijan was waging a patriotic war, a war for the liberation of its territory. There was symbolism in that. As much as twenty percent of the territory of Azerbaijan had been under the control of Armenia for 30 years. The people of Azerbaijan obviously see the outcome of this war as a victory, because they see it as restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. And indeed it is.

Thus, with this military parade Azerbaijan put an end to almost 30 years of the national tragedy that took place in the history of this country. Armenia's victory in the early 1990s became possible, because there was no strong state power in Azerbaijan back then. The Popular Front of Azerbaijan came to power, which was guilty of failures at the front and territorial losses that Azerbaijan suffered.

The parade became a historic milestone both for modern-day Azerbaijan and for the South Caucasus in general. Of course, Yerevan shares a completely different point of view on this topic. For Armenia and the Armenians, all this comes as a national tragedy, because no one there expected such an outcome. Many in Russia did not expect such an outcome either, because previous clashes did not end with anything serious. Yet, this time it goes about an act of real victory. Azerbaijan is living in a state of euphoria now! In this regard, the military parade put an end to 30 years of that violent conflict. Now we will see how the situation is going to develop in the future.

Of course, the state of affairs in Armenia is completely different, and the aftertaste is very bitter.  Pashinyan still remains in place, despite all the threats, a number of politicians have made quite harsh statements. Pashinyan makes harsh statements himself and calls on the nation to take different steps. Many people support him, although it would seem that after such a defeat he should resign.

Indeed, Pashinyan is a symbol of defeat. Moreover, Pashinyan signed a trilateral political agreement on Azerbaijan's terms. The main factor that keeps Pashinyan in the office is the position of the Armenian military, who did not stand up against him.

Pashinyan says that it was Armenian generals, the chiefs of the Armenian Defense Ministry, who offered him to cease the hostilities by signing this agreement. Therefore, it is not only him, who is accountable for the situation on the front - he shares this responsibility with the military leadership of Armenia.

Armenian Defense Minister, however, Tonoyan, has already been dismissed. A new defense minister was appointed - he earlier served as a military adviser to Pashinyan during the hostilities. The loyalty of the army and the national security service ensures a certain political stability to Pashinyan. 

Of course, Yerevan had to go through several days of chaos. The crowd seized the government building and Pashinyan's residence, there were pogroms. During the days of bacchanalia and instability, Pashinyan was hiding in an underground bunker under the building of the Ministry of Defense. The Armenian military were were protecting Pashinyan.

Nevertheless, according to various estimates, 54-58 percent of the population of Armenia support Pashinyan, because the Armenian people expressed their claims to the former political administration. Pashinyan exposed a number of high-profile corruption cases. Therefore, the people of Armenia, despite the bitterness of defeat, support him, because they do not want corrupt figures to return to power in Armenia. In addition, Pashinyan enjoys the support of his party members - Pashinyan's faction has a constitutional majority. In Armenia, one can change power only by vote in the parliament.

Pashinyan's political stability, of course, appears to be an unexpected factor. Armenia no longer accepts multi-vectorism: Armenia either goes with Russia or falls in an abyss of national catastrophe. Putin publicly supported Pashinyan by saying that Pashinyan had to make a courageous, but a very tough decision to end the war by surrendering the territories that Armenia previously held. Putin thus made it clear that Russia would not insist on the immediate resignation of Pashinyan, which gave him a sense of solid ground underneath his feet.

Читайте больше на https://english.pravda.ru/world/145397-armenia_azerbaijan/

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Meanwhile:

In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said that Turkey would not be deterred in defending itself by either US sanctions, or those agreed by the EU in response to the country’s gas drilling in Mediterranean waters claimed by Cyprus. 

“We expect support from our NATO ally, America, in our fight against terrorist organizations and forces ... not sanctions,” Erdogan said.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/509663-turkey-erdogan-us-sanctions/

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