ANKARA: The United States has cautioned Turkey over business links with Iran and charged that an Islamist charity aided Hamas, according to a cable revealed by WikiLeaks Tuesday.
The dispatch covered a series of meetings that David Cohen, the US Treasury assistant secretary for financial crimes, held in Ankara in October 2009. Cohen “cautioned government and banking officials about doing business with Iranian banks” and passed information “on Iranian mis-use of the Turkish financial system” to circumvent sanctions over its nuclear activities, the paper said.
The Turks pledged to comply with all UN resolutions but “are unwilling unilaterally to sever trade with their neighbor,” it said. A Turkish official, kept anonymous by WikiLeaks, said Ankara “cannot do anything beyond” UN resolutions and existing law, and pointed a finger at the European Union.
“Pressure should be brought against the EU to stop selling arms to Iran, rather than just asking Turkey to stop the flow after the weapons are sold,” the official said. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek pledged to instruct banks “to increase vigilence against Iranians who might use deceptive methods” and requested “any specific intelligence” on Iranian entities aiding terrorism, it said. He stressed trade with Iran would continue, noting that “Turkey has the geographic reality of a long border and trading history with Iran.”
Turkey’s reluctance to support a tougher line on Iran has been a primary source of recent frictions between the two NATO allies. In June, Turkey irked the United States when it voted “no” to fresh sanctions against the Islamic republic, adopted at the UN Security Council, insisting that a nuclear fuel swap deal it hammered out with Tehran, together with Brazil, should be given a chance.
