Ankara: A top US government official prodded Turkey on Thursday to enforce international sanctions against Iran, increasing pressure on Ankara to scale back its flourishing trade ties with its neighbour.
"All we want is the sanctions to be imposed throughout the world," Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told Turkish broadcaster NTV after meeting Turkish government and banking officials for two days to discuss US and UN sanctions.
"The purpose of this visit is to maximise our chances that the sanctions imposed on Iran are successful," Levey was quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News as telling a group of journalists.
"Turkey of course plays an important role given its proximity to Iran as a neighbour. Implementation of the sanctions here is as important as it is everywhere." A US delegation visited Turkey in August to deliver a similar message to the country's banks.
Bound by UN sanctions
Turkey, a Nato member that aspires to join the European Union (EU) as well as a secular Muslim nation straddling Europe and Asia, has deepened economic and financial ties with Iran despite Western efforts to put the squeeze on the Islamic Republic.
The UN Security Council, US and EU have tightened sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment programme, which Washington fears will be used to develop atomic bombs. Tehran says it wants peaceful nuclear energy only.
Turkey is bound by UN sanctions despite voting against them along with fellow rotating Security Council member Brazil and has said it is not obliged to follow non-UN sanctions.
But under US law, Turkish banks with business in the US could face US penalties for dealing with Iranian firms blacklisted by Washington.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month Turkey wanted to triple its trade with Iran — which is Turkey's second largest supplier of gas — at a time of growing international isolation of the Islamic Republic. On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said in Washington that Turkish banks had become hesitant about dealing with Iran, but Turkey had left decisions on whether to pull back following US and European sanctions up to them.
Babacan said Ankara had not provided guidelines to its banking sector on how to deal with financial sanctions imposed on Iran.
