A Politico article revealed that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan funded terrorism via a close business tie, stressing the Turkish President often likes to “play a double game” as in the case of the war in Ukraine.
Politico explains how Turkey helps Iran export oil despite American sanctions with one of the confidants of the Turkish president and his classmate, Sitki Ayan.
The bombshell article about Erdogan begins with a reference to a secret meeting held on March 22, 2021, in Beirut, which was attended by a delegation of Iranian military and government officials and a group of businessmen from Turkey led by Ayan. “Both sides wanted to deepen cooperation on smuggling Iranian oil to buyers in China and Russia to generate revenue for Tehran’s allies,” Politico reported, citing Western diplomats.
A Turkish energy magnate with ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has played a central role in helping Iran finance its terror proxies, a POLITICO investigation has found.
Despite evidence of the Turk’s links with Iran, the US has not sanctioned him.
On March 22 of 2021, several of the world’s most dangerous men descended on Beirut’s historic seaside Summerland Hotel — not to swim in the Mediterranean or explore the sumptuous resort’s “Le Beach Pop Up,” but to talk Turkey.
The meeting was a secret one, between a delegation of senior Iranian military and government officials and a business group from Turkey led by a confidant of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Both sides were keen to deepen their partnership smuggling Iranian oil to buyers in China and Russia to raise funds for Tehran’s terror proxies, according to Western diplomats.
A little more than a year after the meeting, all of the key attendees would find their names on U.S. sanctions lists, with one important exception: Turkish businessman Sıtkı Ayan, a friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — the two men attended the same high school — and the man at the center of it all.
The collaboration between a member of the Turkish president’s inner circle and Iran’s power elite is detailed in hundreds of pages of documents, including business contracts and bank transfers, reviewed by POLITICO, many of which have also been posted on WikiIran, an opposition website.
more at politico.eu
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