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The prosecution's star witness implicated Turkish President Recep Erdogan in a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran during a trial that has strained relations between the two countries.

Gold trader Reza Zarrab, the linchpin of a plan to secretly move Iranian money through U.S. banks in violation of American sanctions, has been on the stand since Wednesday at the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive of Turkey's state-owned Halkbank.

Zarrab was shown the transcript of a 2012 phone call between himself and an employee that was caught on a wiretap in which they discussed two other Turkish banks that he told the court "wanted to do Iranian business" using the same system he devised for Halkbank.

"The prime minister gave orders to Zirrat and Vakif as well," Zarrab said on the phone call, referring to the other banks.

In this courtroom sketch, Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, center, testifies before Judge Richard Berman, right, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017 in New York. At left is an interpreter. Elizabeth Williams / via AP

The prosecutor asked Zarrab what he meant by that, and he said the country's economic minister, Zafer Caglayan, told him the two banks were to move Iranian money, too.

"Mr. Zafer had told me Mr. Prime Minister has given approval," Zarrab told the jury.

Related: Does cooperating witness have info on Flynn tie to Turkey?

Asked who was referring to, Zarrab named Erdogan, who was then prime minister and is now president of Turkey.

There was a stir in the courtroom, which was packed with Turkish media covering the Atilla trial.

The jury was shown a transcript of a second call in which Zarrab said that by the following week the Zirrat and Vakif banks "will also be engaged."

"I spoke with Ankara," he explained to the other person on the call. "Mr. Prime Minister and Ali Babacan [the Turkish treasury minister] gave approval. It's finished already."

Asked to explain further, Zarrab told the court: "What I'm saying is that the prime minister of that time, Recep Erdogan, and the minister of the treasury, Ali Babacan, had given an order for them to start doing this trade. By them, I mean the banks."

Even before Wednesday's testimony the trial had infuriated Turkish authorities, with officials claiming that U.S. prosecutors are doing the bidding of Erdogan's rival, cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

"What (Gulen's movement) was not able to achieve here, it is trying to achieve there (New York)," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told a Turkish news agency on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Erdogan, who blames Gulen for a failed coup attempt, has pressed both the Obama and Trump administrations to drop the sanctions case.

Zarrab, 34, was supposed to be the lead defendant in the case but he began cooperating with prosecutors before the trial began.

When he first took the stand Wednesday, he was in jailhouse clothes. On Thursday, at the suggestion of the judge, he wore a suit.

Addressing the change of garb for the jury, prosecutors had Zarrab confirm that he was still in FBI custody despite his civilian clothes. Then they asked why he was no longer in jail.

"For security reason," he said, " for threats I have received in the detention center."

Zarrab previously admitted that during his time in federal lockup in Manhattan after his March 2016 arrest he bribed a prison guard for access to liquor and a cellphone.

Original post:
Witness links Turkish leader Erdogan to Iran sanctions ...

By Walid Shoebat

As shocking as it may be, Erdogan is being proclaimed as God amongst diehard leaders in Turkey. And if in doubt, read this (link here) Erdogan proclaimed himself as God.

Everyday I wake up I am not just shocked at what I find in my researches on Erdogan of Turkey, but amazed in awe how closer this man is beginning to mimic what the biblicalprophets of old declared as The Antichrist proclaiming himself to be God in 2 Thessalonians 2.

As shocking as you just read it, wait till you read this article by Mustafa Akyol (a columnist forAl-MonitorsTurkey Pulse, the TurkishHurriyet Daily News, The International New York Times and The Wall Street Journal) and be amazed that reputable writers are now documenting that Erdogan is literally viewed by many Muslims as God. You heard it correctly.

Aykol writes of Erdogans cult of personality:

In a recent book, Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The Sun of the Age, Aykol writes proudly gives him titles that only belong to deitywhich would sound bizarre, if not heretical.

Indeed, I am not sure if Aykol is aware, to the WahhabistMuslim this is true, but not the Sufi Muslim who believes in the Sufi doctrine of Fana in which man becomes God. Aykol adds:

In 2011, an AKP deputy declared, Even touching Erdogan is a form of worship, and in 2014 another AKP deputy proclaimed that Erdogan carries all the attributes of Allah in himself.

The Sun of the Age, and carries all the attributes of Allah in himself and Eventouching Erdoganis a form of worship, qualifies Erdogan to fit what none of us Christians who would everdoubt what was already proclaimed in the Bible:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 2 Thessalonians 2 1-4

AKP deputy Duzce Miletvekili Feavi Arslan proclaimed that Erdogan carries all the attributes of Allah in himself.

So where are the Naysayers now who for years ridiculed us saying that it is impossible for a Muslim to qualify since Muslims can never deify a man?Shoebat.compredicted this will be the outcome last year and and even explained it theologically from a Muslim perspective (read here).

We in fact even illustrated, before Erdogans coming out of the closet this very issue, by quoting the most infamous of Islamic Sufi writers, Rumi, when he wrote of how the goal of the Sufi is to become divine viaFana (eliminating the self to become God):

Remember the famous utterance of al-Hallaj, I am God. People think that to say I am God is a claim of great pretense and spiritual arrogance. It is actually a claim of extreme humility. I am God means I do not exist. He is all, everything is He, existence is Gods alone. I am without existence, pure non-existence. I am nothing. I am God is not a claim of great pretension, it is a claim of extreme humility. There is more humility in this than any supposed claim to greatness, but people do not understand the inner meaning. When a man acknowledges his servitude to God, he is aware of his being a servant. He may see himself as a devoted servant of God, but he still sees himself and his own actions as apart from the one reality of God. He is not drowned in the Ocean of Divine Unity. Drowned is he in whom there is not separate motion or mobility. Drowned is he whose movement is the movement of the water. And so it is with the enlightenment ones, those who declares, I am God. Anyone who says I am the servant of God asserts the reality of two existences, one for himself and the other for God.But he who says I am God andhas realized the deepest levels of unity within his being has seen through the illusion of his existence. He knows from the experience of unity that his own separate existence is nothing but an illusion. Knowing that, he casts its former selfhood upon the winds of oblivion. (Rumi, Hearts bear witness one to another, in The Complete Discourses of Jalal al-Din Rumi, discourse 11, p. 75, ed. Louis Rogers)

And now we understand Erdogans show of humility and tears when viewed by Muslims. Erdogan is a master ofgreat deception. This is the first time in history that this connect was made. And it is not as if Erdogan is unaware of Rumis theology. Far from it. It was no surprise to us that the president of Turkey, Erdogan even praised Rumis work, revealing that he himself is not only Sufi but that he also believes inFanathe art annihilation and becoming God himself. Why else would Erdogan praise Rumis work TheMasnavi,saying:

A work can live for more than seven centuries only if it is written with love.

TheMasnaviis amongst Rumis most popular works, and it is inthis very bookthat the idea ofman becoming divineis adulated. He praises the Sufi declaration I am the Truth! saying, Mansurs I am the Truth! was purest light (Masnavi, 2.307, trans. Mojaddedi)

When Christ said I am The Truth He was declaring Himself to be God Almighty. Likewise in Sufi Islam, this also exists, yet mimicking Christ. In Sufi Islam for one to exclaim, I am the Truth, is to say I am God!

While some of these people who deify Erdogan are Islamists others are secular figures who praise Erdogan for making Turkey a powerful country and for crushing the traitors of the nation. Notably, some of these secular pundits have become pro-Erdogan only in the past few years and have outdone most Islamists in the ranks of the AKPin their zeal to defend the founding leader of New Turkey.

All this besides Erdogans metamorphosis into an outspoken Islamist calling to serve the God Allah and advance his glory via warfare and martyrdom (see Daniel 11). The most striking example of this troubling metamorphosis was the speech he made during a ceremony held March 16 in the presidential palace to award state honor medals to army veterans and families of fallen soldiers.

These lands remain our home because every singly citizen of this 78 million-strong country men and women alike, even the children and the elderly see martyrdom as an honor when necessary. Otherwise, we wouldnt have been allowed to stay a single day here, he said.

Dont even think that the struggle that began 1,400 years ago between the truth [Islam] and fallacy [other beliefs] is over. Dont even think that those who set an eye on these lands 1,000 years ago have given up their ambitions.Dont even think that those who turned up at the Dardanelles, and then across Anatolia 100 years ago, coming with the most powerful armies, weapons and technology of the time, have repented. No, they never did so. This long-standing struggle is going on and will go on, he added.

Erdogan wants to declare war, again, against the strongest fortresses to advance his god (Daniel 11) while at the same time wants to proclaim himself to be god (2 Thessalonians 2).

Erdogan went on to say, We have to keep toiling with this awareness, always ready for one of the two beautiful [eventualities], and take measures accordingly. What he meant by two beautiful eventualities was becoming a martyr or ghazi. In the Islamic sense, a martyr is someone who sacrifices his life in the name of Allah, while ghazi is a titleof the Muslim who advances the cause of Allah in war.

Hakan Albayrak, one of the leading activists in the 2010 Gaza flotilla, wrote a critical open letter to Erdogan March 22 in his new Islamist daily, Dirilis Postasi. Albayrak was nonetheless supportive of Erdogan, but longed for the days when he shared power with other figures, among them former President Abdullah Gul.Albayrak soonlearned that even the most respectful of criticism is unwelcome. A website operated by the Sabah group, i.e., Team Erdogan headquarters, accusedhim and two other similarly supportive-but-critical journalists oftreachery against Erdogan, the leader of a struggle awaited for a century. Erdogan in other words is an awaited Messiah.

The Islamist scene, however, has become a bit more complicated as of late, with Erdoganism morphing into an ideology unto itself, disillusioningveterans of Turkeys Islamist movement writes Aykol.

ERDOGAN IS LURING ISRAEL

With Erdogan and Israel, it is as if the devil possessed the man telling him to lure the Jews in readiness to rebuild them a temple. The othershocker was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans silence during the recent Israeli election campaign, despite controversial remarks about the Palestinians, and the reopening of a synagogue in Edrine might signal a change inin his methods with Israel.Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogans devoted adviser, even published a moderate and thoughtful analysis March 24 about the Israeli election results attemptingto convince his readers that the only way for Netanyahu to achieve his goal of a secure Israel is through a just and lasting peace with the Palestinians. Erdogan wants to be the peacemaker and divider of Gods land (Joel 3).

Even after the Israeli elections,alavish ceremony was held March 27 in the city of Edirne, in northwestern Turkey, to re-consecrate the citys Great Synagogue. In its glory days in the early 20th century, it was the largest synagogue in the Balkans and the third-largest in Europe. The impressive building, designed as a replica of the Leopoldstaedter Temple in Vienna, was renovated by the Turkish government at a cost of $1.7 million. Just a few months ago, in November 2014, the governor of Edirne province, Dursun Ali Sahin, caused a controversy when he called for the synagogue to be confiscated from the Jewish community and turned into a museum because of what he called the rumblings of war from the [Israeli] criminals, who are destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque and killing Muslims there.

Erdogan aiding in building a temple for the Jews in Edrine is no accident, Erdogan himself wants to sit in a Jewish Temple and in Hagia Sophia, the Temple of The Word of God.

The ceremony was intended to be an expression of Turkeys tolerance and openness toward the Jews, who had long ago left Edirne. Representatives of the Jewish community were invited to attend, along with top-level Turkish officials, as would be expected according to protocol. A number of themactually showed up. Even Israels chief rabbis were invited, but at the suggestion of the Foreign Ministry, they chose to remain in Jerusalem. Israeli diplomats serving in Turkey, however, attended the event.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, who had apologized to the Jewish community on behalf of the Turkish government for Sahins remarks, called on all Jews who so desire to come and live in his country. Arinc was trying to supplantany expressionsof anti-Semitism, which has been rearing its head in Turkeyand which, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, is directly connected to public statements by senior politicians about Israel.

This makes it impossible to ignore that the message being conveyed by the ceremony at the Edirne synagogue was not simply one of inclusiveness and brotherhood toward the Jews, but also one of reconciliation, or at least of good intentions by the Turkish government toward the State of Israel.

Erdogan being declared as God, preaching on war and martyrdom, while preparing peace with Israel and the Jews is some Antichrist deadly combination.

It is now no wonder why Erdogan of Turkey introduced the latest state-of-the-art innovation to Turkish politics, resorting to a tool usually found only in science-fiction books: The hologram which reflected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoans image as he addressed his worshippersin zmir. Erdogan through trickery, wants to be an omnipresent type of leader and is luring the entire Muslim world.

Turkey will lure Israel with a 7 years covenant of death (Isaiah 28:14-22) and a treaty will be signed in Egypt thinking it preserved the Egypt-Israel Camp David accord. By this peace Turkey will deceive many and Islam will appear as a peaceful religion, so by peace the Antichrist will deceive many.

In the meanwhile, please consider the serious issue on Christian persecution which will increase as we see these events unfold. we operate a very effective mission in rescuing fellow Christians. We are a unique organization (Rescue Christians) who rescue Christians, predominately in Pakistan that live under the Muslim yoke baking bricks in kilns under the heating sun. Christians in Pakistan are also burned in furnaces. To see an example out of the thousands we rescue, click here, and listen to the amazing testimonies first hand on how you can help and make a difference, now in this life and for eternity.Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.CONSIDER DONATING TO RESCUE CHRISTIANS

Excerpt from:
Shocking: Muslims Are Now Declaring Erdogan As God

The United States will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria, U.S. President Donald Trump told his Turkish counterpart on Friday, in a move sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore much of the fight against Islamic State.

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In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he'd "given clear instructions" that the Kurds will receive no more weapons "and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago," said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The White House confirmed the move in a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed the Turk of "pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."

The White House called the move "consistent with our previous policy" and noted the recent fall of Raqqa, once Islamic State's self-declared capital but recently liberated by a largely Kurdish force. The Trump administration announced in May it would start arming the Kurds in anticipation of the fight to retake Raqqa.

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"We are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return," the White House said, using an acronym for the extremist group.

The move could help ease strained tensions between the U.S. and Turkey, two NATO allies that have been sharply at odds about how best to wage the fight against Islamic State. Turkey considers the Kurdish Syrian fighters, known by the initials YPG, to be terrorists because of their affiliation to outlawed Kurdish rebels that have waged a three decade-long insurgency in Turkey. Yet the U.S. chose to partner with the YPG in Syria anyway, arguing that the battle-hardened Kurds were the most effective fighting force available.

Cavusoglu, who said he was in the room with Erdogan during Trump's call, quoted the U.S. president as saying he had given instructions to U.S. generals and to national security adviser H.R. McMaster that "no weapons would be issued."

"Of course, we were very happy with this," Cavusoglu said.

Yet for the Kurds, it was the latest demoralizing blow to their hopes for greater recognition in the region. Last month, the Kurds in neighboring Iraq saw their recent territorial gains erased by the Iraqi military, which seized the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas from the Kurdish regional government in retaliation for a Kurdish independence referendum that the U.S. ardently opposed.

Trump's decision appeared to catch both the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department off guard. Officials at both agencies, who would normally be informed of changes in U.S. policy toward arming the Syrian Kurds, said they were unaware of any changes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was unclear whether the Trump administration notified the Kurds of the move before telling the Turks. Nor was it how much significance the change would have on the ground, considering the fight against Islamic State is almost over.

The United States has been arming the Kurds in their fight againstIslamic State through an umbrella group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which is comprised of Kurdish as well as Arab fighters. But the retreat of Islamic State, which has lost nearly all its territory in Syria, has altered the dynamics in the region and a U.S. defense official said he was unaware of any additional arms scheduled to be transferred to the Kurds, even before the Turkish announcement.

Last week, Col. Ryan Dillon, the chief spokesman for the U.S. coalition that is fightingIslamic State in Iraq and Syria, said there has yet to be any reduction in the number of U.S. advisers working with the SDF. His comments appeared to suggest the possibility that changes in the level and type of U.S. military support for the Syrian Kurds could be coming.

As the fight againstIslamic State has waned in recent months, the U.S. has pledged to carefully monitor the weapons it provides the Kurds, notably ensuring that they don't wind up in the hands of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey known as the PKK.

Both Turkey and the U.S. consider the PKK a terrorist group. But the United States has tried to draw a distinction between the PKK and the Syrian Kurds across the border, while Turkey insists they're essentially the same.

In both Syria and Iraq, the U.S. relied on Kurdish fighters to do much of the fighting against IS, but those efforts have yet to lead to a realization of the Kurds' broader aspirations, most notably an independent state.

Washington's support for the Syrian Kurds, in particular, has been a major thorn in U.S.-Turkish relations for several years, given Turkey's concerns about the Kurds' territorial aspirations. In particular, Turkey has feared the establishment of a contiguous, Kurdish-held canton in northern Syria that runs along the Turkish border.

Relations between NATO allies Turkey and the United States have also soured recently over a number of other issues, including Turkey's crackdown on dissent following a failed coup attempt last year. Ankara has also demanded that the U.S. extradite a Pennsylvania-based cleric that it blames for fomenting the coup, but the U.S. says Turkey lacks sufficient proof.

Read this article:
Trump tells Erdogan U.S. will stop arming Kurdish fighters in ...

Published time: 22 Nov, 2017 15:41 Edited time: 23 Nov, 2017 14:19

An all-Syrian congress which will see wide representation of the countrys opposition is to be held in Sochi, Vladimir Putin said after talks with the Turkish and Iranian presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani, who backed the idea.

The presidents of Iran and Turkey supported the initiative to convene an all-Syrian forum-congress of the national dialogue in Syria. We agreed to hold this important event at the proper level and ensure the participation of representatives of different sectors of Syrian society, Putin said after the talks in Sochi on Wednesday.

Weve tasked the Foreign Ministries, the representatives of special services and Defense Departments to work out the list of participants and the timing of the congress to be held here, in Sochi," the Russian president added.

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The all-Syrian congress is aimed at gathering delegates from various political parties, internal and external opposition, ethnic and confessional groups at the negotiating table, Putin said.

Success on the battlefield has paved the way for a new stage of the peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis, the Russian leader added.

In our common opinion, the success on the battlefield that brings closer the liberation of the whole of Syrian territory from the militants paves the way for a qualitatively new stage in the settlement of the crisis. Im talking about the real prospects of achieving a long-term, comprehensive normalization in Syria, political adjustment in the post-conflict period, Putin said.

The Russian president also said that he and his counterparts see the potential for a long-term, comprehensive political settlement in Syria. The talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi lasted two hours, with Putin saying that they were detailed and included all aspects of the Syrian settlement.

Putin said that he informed Erdogan and Rouhani about the results of his talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, which took place in Sochi on Monday. He added that he told the Turkish and Iranian presidents about the commitment of the Syrian leadership to the principles of peaceful settlement of the political crisis, its readiness to carry out constitutional reform and stage a free, UN-supervised election.

Link:
Putin, Erdogan & Rouhani agree on holding Syrian national ...

Andrew Brunson, from North Carolina, is in a Turkish prison on terrorism charges that his family calls "totally false." Courtesy of American Center for Law and Justice hide caption

Andrew Brunson, from North Carolina, is in a Turkish prison on terrorism charges that his family calls "totally false."

It's been nearly a year since Turkey detained American pastor Andrew Brunson and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says if the U.S. wants Brunson freed, it should extradite an elderly Turkish cleric living in the U.S., whom Erdogan accuses of organizing last year's failed coup attempt.

"Erdogan has voiced frustration with American demands for more evidence pointing to Gulen's involvement in the coup effort," NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Istanbul.

Peter relays Erdogan's words in a speech at a police academy Thursday: "You have a pastor too," Erdogan said, adding, "You give us that one and we'll work with our judiciary and give back yours."

Brunson's case has been called a priority for President Trump's administration. Vice President Mike Pence has written to Brunson's family; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Brunson's wife, Norine, in Ankara in March. Tillerson also discussed the case with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Brunson, 48, is an evangelical Presbyterian from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades. He was arrested last October during the crackdown that followed a military faction's attempt to overthrow Erdogan in July. Since then, he's been accused of being part of an armed terrorist group; one month ago, he was charged with espionage and attempting to overthrow the government.

The cleric Turkey wants to get its hands on is Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic scholar in his late 70s who lives in a compound in Saylorsburg, Pa., in the Pocono Mountains.

"Gulen, who is said to have millions of supporters in Turkey, has steadfastly denied any responsibility for the coup," NPR reported in July of 2017, "but Turkey is demanding his extradition from the U.S., where he has lived since the late 1990s."

Speaking to NPR earlier this year, Gulen denied being behind the coup attempt.

"To this day, I have stood against all coups," Gulen said. He added, "if I were to humor that idea, if any one among those soldiers had called me and told me of their plan, I would tell them, 'You are committing murder.' "

When asked about Turkey's attempt to extradite him, Gulen said, "I think the United States is mindful of its reputation for its democracy and rule of law, and if they are willing to risk that reputation by extraditing me based on the request and claims made by Turkey, I would never say no. I would go willingly."

He also spoke about what his final wish would be if he were to be condemned to die: "I would say the person who caused all this suffering and oppressed thousands of innocents, I want to spit in his face."

More:
Turkey's Erdogan Suggests Swap: Jailed U.S. Pastor For ...