ANKARA, Turkey — While Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves are melting fast, its gold reserves have increased by 50 tons since the beginning of the year. An intriguing pattern, meanwhile, has emerged in Turkey’s gold trade with the United Arab Emirates, bringing to mind the oil-for-gold scheme with Iran that is still haunting Ankara.
Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, who is accused of being the key figure running the scheme to circumvent US sanctions on the Islamic Republic, was arrested in the United States last year. In March, another high-profile figure — Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy president of Turkey’s public bank Halkbank — landed behind bars during a trip to New York on charges of colluding with Zarrab and facilitating his financial transactions.
