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Dec. 7, 2017 6:00 PM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) The leaders of Greece and Turkey publicly aired their grievances Thursday in a tense news conference as a two-day visit to Athens by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan got off to a rocky start.

The Greek government had expressed hopes that the visit the first to Greece by a Turkish president in 65 years would help improve the often-frosty relations between the two neighbors. The NATO allies are divided by a series of decades-old issues, including territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea, and have come to the brink of war three times since the early 1970s.

But from the outset, the discussions focused on disagreements.

On the eve of his visit, Erdogan rattled his Greek hosts by telling Greece's Skai television that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne should be "updated." The treaty delineated modern Turkey's borders and outlines the status of the Muslim minority in Greece and the Greek minority in Turkey, among other issues.

In a visibly testy first meeting with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the two engaged in a thinly-veiled verbal spat over the treaty and Greece's Muslim minority, which Erdogan is to visit Friday.

"This happened in Lausanne, that happened in Lausanne. I get that, but let's now quickly do what is necessary," Erdogan told Pavlopoulos. "Many things have changed in 94 years. If we review these, I believe that all the sides will agree that so many things have to (change.)"

The spat continued during Erdogan's appearance at an unusually candid joint news conference with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The two listed a series of grievances their countries have with each other, including religious and minority rights, the divided island of Cyprus and the case of ten Turkish servicemen who have applied for asylum in Greece following a Turkish government crackdown after a failed coup last year.

"It is very important to strengthen our channels of communication, and this can only happen on the basis of mutual respect," Tsipras said.

The prime minister said the two also discussed tensions in the Aegean Sea, where Greece complains Turkish fighter jets frequently violate its airspace.

"The increasing violations of Greek airspace in the Aegean and particularly the simulated dogfights in the Aegean pose a threat to our relations, and particularly a threat to our pilots," Tsipras said.

For his part, Erdogan insisted once more that the Lausanne treaty needed to be reviewed, but stressed his country had no territorial claims on its smaller neighbor.

On the topic of the Muslim minority in Greece which the country recognizes only as a religious minority, while Turkey has long pressed for better rights Tsipras said his government agreed that improvements must be made in their quality of life.

"But issues that concern reforms involving Greek citizens are not an issue of negotiation between countries," he said.

Tsipras noted it was unclear exactly what Erdogan was seeking with his call to update the 1923 treaty.

"The truth is I am a little confused about what he is putting on the table," he said.

Greeks have been aghast at Erdogan's previous comments over possibly revising the Lausanne treaty, fearing that could harbor territorial claims.

Erdogan and Tsipras also sparred over Cyprus, a Mediterranean island divided since a 1974 Turkish invasion into a Turkish-occupied north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south. Another round of internationally-brokered peace talks to reunify the island failed earlier this year.

"Who left the table? Southern Cyprus did ... we want the issue to reach a fair and lasting solution but that is not southern Cyprus' concern," Erdogan said.

Tsipras retorted: "My dear friend, Mr. President, we must not forget that this issue remains unresolved because 43 years ago there was an illegal invasion and occupation of the northern part of Cyprus."

Erdogan also raised the issue of Athens having no official mosque, to which Tsipras responded by saying Greece had restored several mosques around the country, including a centuries-old mosque in Athens.

The refugee crisis appeared to be the only issue the two sides did not disagree on, with both noting they had shared a significant burden of the migration flows into the European Union. More than a million people crossed from Turkey through Greece at the height of the crisis.

Later Thursday, several hundred leftist, anarchist and Kurdish protesters held a peaceful march through Athens against Erdogan's visit.

On Friday, Erdogan will visit the northeastern town of Komotini to meet with members of Greece's Muslim minority.

____

Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Derek Gatopoulos and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed.

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Turkey's Erdogan heads to Athens for official Greece visit ...

Published time: 4 Dec, 2017 12:59

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Washington of attempting to bring Turkey to its knees and discredit Ankara amid several lawsuits against Turkish citizens. They can try as hard as they like but they will not succeed, Erdogan added.

Erdogans remarks come less than a week after Reza Zarrab, a 34-year-old Turkish-Iranian gold trader, pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade US sanctions against Iran. He is set to testify against a Turkish bank official, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, charged with arranging illegal transactions involving US banks. While US prosecutors have charged nine people in the case, only Zarrab and Atilla are known to be in US custody, according to Reuters. The other defendants include Suleyman Aslan, the former head of Halkbank, and Zafer Caglayan, the former economic minister of Turkey.

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Erdogan has repeatedly asked the United States to drop the case and release Zarrab, who is married to Turkish pop star Ebru Gundes. The Turkish government maintains that the case has been fabricated purely for political motives, adding fuel to the fire of the growing dispute between Ankara and Washington.

Commenting on the trial on Sunday, the Turkish president said that Washington is simply trying to discredit Turkey.

They [US] are trying to punish, judge and discredit us because we did not submit to those scenarios. The scenario and the plot are obvious and they are doing this with their co-operators in our country. They are doing it with FETO [US-based cleric Fethullah Gulens movement outlawed in Turkey]. You will not be able to deceive us, you should know that, Erdogan warned on Sunday, speaking at the provincial congress of his ruling party in the eastern province of Agri, as cited by Hurriyet.

Our nation should know that these attacks, defamations and games are not independent of each other. All are aimed at the same thing: To make Turkey kneel down and to pit us against each other. They can try as hard as they like but they will not succeed, he added.

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Erdogan warned on Saturday that Turkey could never be made to stand trial in the US.

My country can never be condemned by virtual courts set up by FETO scoundrels and fake representatives, Erdogan said during a speech in the eastern province of Kars, adding: Someone has gotten up and decided they will try my country in their rigged courts. Dont bother!

In August, a US grand jury indicted 19 people, including 15 Turkish security officials, in connection with a brawl between pro-Kurdish protesters and Erdogans security personnel in Washington, DC, which police described as a brutal attack on peaceful protesters. The incident saw several pro-Erdogan supporters push past DC Metropolitan Police to beat, kick and choke unarmed demonstrators, leaving at least 11 injured. The attack took place outside of the Turkish ambassadors residence during Erdogans visit to the United States.

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US trying to make Turkey kneel Erdogan RT World News

ANKARA (AFP)-

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is calling a summit of the main pan-Islamic body in Istanbul on December 13 to discuss the expected US move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

"In the face of developments that arouse sensitivity over the status of Jerusalem, Mr President is calling a leaders' summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in order to display joint action among Islamic countries," presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara.

He said the summit meeting would take place on December 13. There was no immediate confirmation from Muslim leaders if they would come.

Turkey currently holds the chairmanship of the OIC.

The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the moving of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- expected to be announced by President Donald Trump later Wednesday -- would be a "grave mistake" against international agreements, Kalin warned.

"Jerusalem is our honour, Jerusalem is our common cause, Jerusalem is our red line," he added, urging the Trump administration to "return from this grave mistake immediately".

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the expected US move risked igniting a "fire" in the Middle East and will prove a "great disaster".

The recognition will "throw the region and the world into a fire and it's not known when it will end", Bozdag, also government spokesman, wrote on Twitter.

Bozdag said such a step which showed "great intolerance and mindlessness" would "destroy the peace process".

- 'Chaos and instability' -

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Brussels ahead of meeting US counterpart Rex Tillerson that the move is a "mistake" that "will not bring stability and peace but rather chaos and instability."

Asked whether he would bring the issue up with Tillerson, the minister said: "I have already told him and I will tell him again."

Erdogan had warned Tuesday that the status of Jerusalem is a "red line" for Muslims and could even prompt Turkey to cut ties with Israel.

The Turkish leader -- who regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause -- is due to hold talks later in Ankara with Jordanian King Abdullah II who is also a strong opponent of the move.

Last year, Turkey and Israel ended a rift triggered by Israel's deadly storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10 Turkish activists dead and led to a downgrading of diplomatic ties.

The two sides have since stepped up cooperation in particular in energy but Erdogan is still often bitterly critical of Israeli policy.

The United States supports a strong relationship between Turkey, the key Muslim member of NATO, and Israel, which is Washington's main ally in the Middle East.

2017 AFP

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Flash - Erdogan calls Islamic summit next week on Jerusalem ...

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey would not succumb to blackmail by the United States in the trial of a Turkish bank executive being charged with evading U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Already strained ties between NATO allies Ankara and Washington have deteriorated as Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, detailed in court a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions.

Erdogan said Turkeys dealings were in line with the decisions of the United Nations, adding that they were not against Ankaras alliance with Washington.

What have we done, for example? We bought natural gas from a country we have an agreement with so our citizens wouldnt be cold in the winter. Like other countries, only the UNs decisions bind us, and Turkey followed them to the dot, he told members of his ruling AK Party in the eastern province of Mus.

Over three days of testimony, Zarrab has implicated top Turkish politicians, including Erdogan. Zarrab said on Thursday that when Erdogan was prime minister he had authorized a transaction to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

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 cleric Fethullah Gulen, who it alleges engineered last years coup attempt.

This case is nothing more than the 17-25 December plot being carried across the ocean. Excuse us, but we will not succumb to this blackmail, Erdogan said, referring to 2013 leaks about alleged government corruption which were blamed on his opponents.

Although he has not yet responded to the courtroom claims, Erdogan has dismissed the case as a politically motivated attempt to bring down the Turkish government, led by Gulen.

Turkey has repeatedly requested Gulens extradition, but U.S. officials have said the courts require sufficient evidence before they can extradite the elderly cleric, who has denied any involvement in the coup.

Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu. Editing by Jane Merriman

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Turkey's Erdogan says will not succumb to U.S. 'blackmail ...

It's the first time Erdogan has been named in the closely-watched US criminal case over Iran's violations of international sanctions and movement of billions of dollars.

The case's central figure, Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader, was arrested in Miami last year and has since been the case's top named defendant. There are eight other defendants facing similar charges.

He quietly cut a plea deal last month and admitted to defrauding the United States, money laundering, and bank fraud, according to court documents.

On Thursday, Zarrab testified in federal court about Erdogan's alleged role in Zarrab's scheme, which involved laundering funds from Iranian oil and gas sales through Turkish banks, including the state-run bank, Halkbank.

Zarrab testified that when the amount of money illegally flowing through Turkey's Halkbank became too much to handle, Erdogan approved getting two more Turkish banks involved: VakfBank and Ziraat Bank.

Zarrab said he received this information from the government official he claims to have bribed to take part in the scheme, former Turkish economy minister Zafer Caglayan. Caglayan denied all allegations in a Turkish probe into these allegations that started in 2013.

On Thursday, Erdogan responded to Zarrab's testimony from Wednesday, saying Turkey "did the right thing" and did not violate US sanctions against Iran, according to CNN Turk.

"The prime minister of that time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and [then] Minister of Treasury Ali Babacan had given orders for them to start the trades, the banks," Zarrab said Thursday. CNN has sought comment from the Turkish government on Zarrab's testimony and is awaiting response.

In their court filings, the US government has not alleged that Erdogan cooperated in the scheme.

On Wednesday, Zarrab testified that he paid Caglayan more than 31 million Euros ($36.7 million) in bribes to help Iran launder money and dodge international sanctions. Caglayan denied all allegations in a Turkish probe into the claims, which started in 2013.

One of the police officers in the 2013 Turkish probe has since fled Turkey and will now serve as a witness in the US government's case, prosecutors said in court earlier this week.

For years, US and United Nations sanctions on Iran have kept that country from accessing billions of dollars stored in banks around the world. The tactic is meant to punish Iran for its attempts to develop nuclear weapons and threatening Israel and the United States.

Zarrab's detailed testimony, which surprised those in the courtroom, brings the criminal case's focus to top levels of the Turkish government and may help explain why Erdogan has lambasted the American investigation. The Turkish government has sought the return of Zarrab. Erdogan loyalists view the Zarrab case being tried in New York as a political move against the President and his party.

Cash to CAG

On Wednesday, Zarrab testified about his role in helping Iran dodge sanctions to access money stuck in Turkish banks.

Zarrab recalled how he paired up with a jeweler in 2012 to devise a scheme in which they would trade gold for cash in order to launder billions of dollars for Iran. He told the court how money would traverse through nearly a dozen banks and shell companies and sometimes wind up in American banks including Standard Chartered and others. They did this so that Iran could conduct international business through proxies and circumvent international sanctions.

"A few billion ... euros" were withdrawn in this scheme "under disguise of gold trade," Zarrab said.

When a top official at Turkey's Halkbank refused to let Zarrab do that, Zarrab said he went to Caglayan -- then the economy minister -- to pressure Halkbank to play along.

Caglayan agreed to meet in person, and asked Zarrab details about the illegal deal and its profit margins, Zarrab testified.

"I can work with this, sharing profits 50/50," Caglayan said, according to Zarrab's testimony.

US federal prosecutors showed American jurors what they said were spreadsheets kept by Zarrab during the operation of his illegal trading business. In it were several payments marked "cash to CAG," a reference to Caglayan.

Nate Schenkkan, a Turkey analyst at the pro-democracy organization Freedom House who is watching the trial, told CNN this is the first time the public sees "the raw scale of the bribes and corruption."

Zarrab's witness testimony and documents displayed at trial "would show that this conspiracy to launder money for Iran was not a rogue operation. It would show the Turkish government at its very highest level understood what was going on and approved of it," Schenkkan tsaid.

Zarrab is also testifying in this trial against the deputy general manager of Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who until recently was Zarrab's co-defendant. Atilla has pleaded not guilty.

Zarrab testified that he conducted these types of business deals for the National Iran Oil Company, and the scheme would move money between bank accounts at Halkbank that belonged to a major Iranian bank, along with the Turkish companies Botas, Tupras and others, before moving the money out internationally.

In essence, Zarrab painted a picture that portrayed Halkbank as a laundering tool within its own walls.

In a written statement, Halkbank denied the accusations: "Our bank did not do any illegal transfers about any country. There is no systematic or conscious violation in order to bypass the embargo."

Zarrab also testified that he engaged in a scheme to pull Iranian money out of Aktif Bank, the largest privately-owned investment bank in Turkey.

On a daily basis, Zarrab said he brokered the illegal movement of US $5-10 million of Iranian money out of Aktif Bank. But Zarrab claimed he lost the illegal business when the bank cut him out as the middleman and started doing it on its own.

The US connection

In testimony on Wednesday, Zarrab told the court he initially hired American lawyers to pursue some sort of "prisoner exchange" between the United States and Turkey -- an odd effort that failed.

It is unclear who would have been part of that prisoner swap. But the Turkish government has several Americans jailed under suspicious circumstances whom it sees as bartering tools with the United States, according to Schenkkan, the analyst.

Zarrab did not mention the lawyers by name in court, but after his March 2016 arrest he hired former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a supporter of and former campaign advisor to US President Donald Trump.

"That receptiveness is hardly surprising when one considers that none of the transactions in which Mr. Zarrab is alleged to have participated involved weapons or nuclear technology, or any other contraband, but rather involved consumer goods, and that Turkey is situated in a part of the world strategically critical to the United States," Giuliani said, according to the filing.

CNN's Kara Fox and Isil Sariyuce contributed to this report.

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Erdogan helped Iran evade US sanctions, witness claims - CNN