Turkey summons representative of FBI over controversal trial

ANKARA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has summoned the representative of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Ankara, Daily Sabah reported Wednesday.

The office representative was summoned to Turkish Directorate General of Security over suspected links to the Iran sanctions case in the U.S., said the report.

The move comes after a former police officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, testified in a trial into a former Turkish bank executive in New York that the FBI gave him 50,000 U.S. dollars of financial aid in operation to overthrow Turkey's government.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an deputy general manager at the state-owned Halkbank, is accused of taking part in a scheme with a gold trader, Reza Zarrab, to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

Ankara accused Huseyin Korkmaz of being a fugitive suspect over links to the Gulenists. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag slammed Tuesday the U.S. trial as a "plot against Turkey".

"It is impossible for them to finish a plot in the U.S. that started in Turkey," Bozdag said, decrying "lies and smears" in the trial.

Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher, is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. At least 250 people were killed and over 2,000 people were injured in the coup attempt. Enditem