A top Turkish official says in the U.S. that Turkish firms are ‘free to make their own decisions’ about complying with sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran over its nuclear program. Turkey has rebuffed a U.S. effort to persuade it to scale back its trade ties with Iran despite a persistent U.S. lobbying campaign this week in Washington and Ankara. Ali Babacan, a Turkish deputy prime minister, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that Turkish companies remained “”free to make their own decisions”” about whether to comply with U.S. and European sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran. The sanctions, the latest round of which was adopted in June, were designed to build enough economic pressure on Iran to limit its disputed nuclear program. Turkey is a major trading partner with its neighbor to the east, and its failure to comply with the sanctions is a threat to their success. Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said last month that his country wanted to triple its trade with Iran. The Obama administration this week mounted a major effort to bring Turkey in line. The Treasury Department’s point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Wednesday to urge Turkish officials to cooperate in the sanctions effort, even as American officials in Washington offered to broaden U.S.-Turkish trade ties. Yet Babacan, a founding member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, said Turkish businesses would be unwise to break off ties to Iranian firms when many European, Chinese and Russian companies “”are still doing quite a big business with Iran and finding open doors.”” Turkey receives about a third of its energy from Iran, and their two-way trade, valued at more than $10 billion, is especially important to impoverished areas of Turkey along the border with Iran. Despite the government’s attitude, U.S. and European sanctions may have some bite, including for Turkish banks, which risk losing access to the U.S. market if they do business with companies that trade with Iran. Zafer Caglayan, Turkey’s minister of state for foreign trade, complained this month about U.S. pressure on the banks. (Source: Los Angeles Times)
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