Erdogan slams US over Turkish banker case

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed the recent US verdict in a case involving Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, saying the US should reconsider its sense of justice.

"If this is the US' sense of justice, then yes, the world is doomed. The US must reconsider its sense of justice," Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport ahead of his departure for France.

"The United States should excuse us, but the laws in our bilateral ties and the bilateral accords between us are losing their validity. I am saddened to say this, but this is how it will be from now on," he added.

He did not say to which accords he was referring to.

On Wednesday, a jury in New York found Atilla, the 47-year-old former deputy chief executive officer of Turkey's public lender Halkbank, guilty on five counts related to conspiracy and bank fraud but acquitted him of a money laundering charge.

The verdict by a panel of six men and six women came after more than three weeks of testimonies and four days of deliberation.

The counts on which the banker was declared guilty included violation of US sanctions against Iran, crimes to deceive the US and defrauding US banks.

"The United States is carrying out a chain of plots, and these are not just legal but also economic plots," he added.