Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former executive of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank convicted in the United States over a sanctions-evasion scheme involving Iran, said Turkish officials urged him during his trial to accuse the presiding US judge of links to the Gülen movement, but he refused.
Atilla said in an interview with journalist Cansu Çamlıbel published Monday on the T24 news website that he had been encouraged by officials in Ankara to seek the recusal of US District Judge Richard Berman by claiming the judge was affiliated with the faith-based movement.
“They wanted me to argue that there was evidence the judge was linked to FETÖ and to request his recusal,” Atilla said, using the term the Turkish government applies to the Gülen movement.
The Gülen movement, inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who died in Pennsylvania in 2024, is labeled as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government. The government accuses the movement of orchestrating a failed coup in July 2016, a claim the movement strongly denies.
Atilla said the suggestion was conveyed through lawyers and appeared to come from senior officials in Ankara.
He said he rejected the proposal because it would have undermined his defense and likely worsened his legal situation.
“I’m glad I didn’t do what they asked. If I had followed those suggestions, I might still be in prison,” he said.
Atilla, who served 28 months in a US prison before returning to Turkey in 2019, also criticized Turkish authorities for failing to advocate on his behalf while pursuing efforts to secure the release of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab.
“After Zarrab was arrested, the Turkish government sought his return to Turkey until he began cooperating with US prosecutors,” Atilla said. “But I never saw a similar effort regarding me.”
Atilla also said Turkish authorities effectively prevented him from mounting a stronger defense during the trial and did not allow Halkbank officials who were willing to testify in his favor to appear as witnesses.
He said Ankara had agreed to return Zarrab’s assets in Turkey under a recent arrangement that suspended the Halkbank prosecution but had not raised the status of Turkish officials and bankers accused in the case.
“Turkey openly accused Reza Zarrab of treason and espionage. Today they agree to cancel the cases against a man they once accused in this way and return his assets, yet they never even consider demanding that the rulings against innocent people who served their own state be reversed,” Atilla said. “I find that absurd.”
Atilla also said he believed he had been sacrificed to protect others involved in the political fallout of the case. “Those who knew I was innocent but threw me into the fire to protect themselves, I forgive none of them,” he said.
Halkbank case resolved after years of diplomatic tension
The comments came after the United States and Halkbank reached a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a criminal case accusing the Turkish state-owned lender of helping Iran evade US sanctions.
The agreement, reported by Reuters on March 9, would suspend the prosecution if Halkbank complies with monitoring requirements related to sanctions and anti–money-laundering rules. The deal still requires approval from Judge Berman.
US prosecutors had charged the bank in 2019 with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, alleging it helped move about $20 billion of restricted Iranian funds through complex financial transactions involving front companies and gold trades.
The case was closely tied to the prosecution of Zarrab, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy and later testified against Atilla in federal court in New York.
Atilla was convicted in 2018 on bank fraud and conspiracy charges and served about 28 months of a 32-month sentence before being released and returning to Turkey, where he has consistently denied wrongdoing.
‘Political decision’
Atilla said he believes the resolution of the case was ultimately political rather than judicial.
“The Halkbank case became defunct because of a political decision by the US administration,” he said, adding that he suspects broader diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Ankara influenced the outcome.
Despite the agreement suspending the prosecution against the bank, Atilla said it left unresolved the situation of individuals prosecuted or accused during the case.
“If the case became defunct as a result of a political decision by the US administration, Turkey should have demanded that the accusations against us also be dropped,” he said. “That should have been part of the negotiations.”