Turkey and Azerbaijan play their pre-agreed roles quite skillfully and persuasively to achieve the solution of their geopolitical problems and to serve their national interests.

When necessary, they are “one nation, two states” and treacherous brothers, and when necessary, they can even play enmity, which will again contribute to the realization of their goals. On July 1, two events took place that cannot be considered independently of each other. On July 1, representatives of Armenia and Turkey agreed to enable the movement of citizens of third countries from Turkey to Armenia and vice versa as soon as possible. On that same day, the Azerbaijani authorities decided to close the Turkey-Nakhichevan border. If the first event is known to almost everyone,

Azerbaijan has always fought for the comprehensive blockade of Armenia, and Turkey has been Azerbaijan’s reliable ally in this matter for the past 30 years. Starting from 1993, when Turkey closed the road with Armenia through the bridge over the Araks River and blocked the Gyumri-Kars railway.

Azerbaijan demanded that Turkey stop the blockade of Armenia only after extracting a concession from Armenia regarding the so-called Zangezur Corridor, after which the blockade of Armenia would become meaningless, because after the operation of that corridor, Armenia would be in the Turkish park, and a more perfect blockade cannot be imagined. Meanwhile, by agreeing to partially lift the transport blockade of Armenia for the time being, it seems that Turkey is weakening Azerbaijan’s position and depriving it of the leverage to exert greater pressure on Armenia. As for Azerbaijan, it seems, annoyed by Turkey, it closes the only border gate. In fact, the closing of the border with Nakhichevan has only a symbolic meaning for both countries, and its purpose is to play resentment against Turkey.

After the outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, almost all countries closed their land borders to prevent the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic in their country, but later abandoned the restriction. Azerbaijan is perhaps the only country that has not abandoned these restrictions, and for more than two years, Azerbaijan’s land border with its three neighboring countries – Iran, Russia and Georgia – has been closed. There is no road or rail passenger transport with those countries, the only connection is by air, which is extremely expensive and not available to everyone. This has various explanations, but that’s a topic for another conversation. Unlike Azerbaijan itself, its exclave Nakhichevan had a land connection with both neighboring Turkey and Iran. Hundreds and thousands of Azerbaijani citizens used this opportunity to go to Iran and Turkey. Due to the state compensation, the air connection between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan is quite affordable. a two-way plane ticket costs 60 euros. Azerbaijanis used to go from Baku to Nakhichevan, and from there to Iran or Turkey by land. From July 1, they can no longer go to Turkey, which is not so critical.

Instead, Armenia is now positioned as an ally of the West, which signs an agreement with Turkey in Geneva to open the border to citizens of third countries, and Azerbaijan is positioned as a friendly country of Russia, which, in response, closes its border with Turkey. The West has always viewed the opening of the Turkey-Armenia border from the point of view of weakening Russia’s position in Armenia. If Armenia has a land connection with Turkey, Armenia’s economy will be integrated with Turkey’s, the image of Turkey as an eternal enemy will disappear among Armenians, which will reduce Russia’s influence on Armenia, and ultimately it will be possible to achieve the withdrawal of all types of Russian troops from Armenia. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan understands that the issue of Artsakh and Syunik remaining Armenian now depends on Russia. so he will try to play pro-Russian. If Azerbaijan can show that, unlike Armenia, which is improving relations with NATO member Turkey and opening its land border with that country, it is closing its only land link with Turkey, and convince that it is a more reliable partner. than Armenia, then maybe he can use Russia to achieve the final depopulation of Artsakh and to open a corridor through Syunik to Nakhichevan.

It is extremely important for Azerbaijan and Turkey to solve the Syunik issue and ensure the connection with Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through Syunik. But so that Russia does not suddenly suspect that this is being done in order to connect Azerbaijan with Turkey, and suddenly Russia does not fear that this connection can be used to connect Central Asia to Turkey by bypassing Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan are now staging resentment and enmity. Otherwise, it is hard to even imagine that Turkey would go for even a partial unblocking of the border with Armenia, thus violating the strategic interests of Azerbaijan, which it has sacredly preserved for 30 years. And the document signed between the representatives of Armenia and Turkey will most likely never be implemented, there are no deadlines in it at all, and whatever the Turkish side wants,

Avetis Babajanyan

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While Nikol Pashinyan is trying to deprive the opposition MPs of their mandate and exclude them from the National Assembly on the basis of not appearing in the National Assembly, his son Ashot Pashinyan was left out of the faculty of the art of the Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a student.

Ashot went to class only for the first 3 days, and after that, he did not show up.

It is interesting that once Nikol Pashinyan, when he was a YSU student, did not go to class because he was dissatisfied with the government of the day, in fact, is Ashot also dissatisfied with his father’s government?

In Syunik, the only CP man in the village sued all his fellow villagers A trial in an absurd case will start tomorrow in Syunik.

Pay attention: there are 36 families in Inner Khndzoresk, and now the men of 30 families are being tried in the same case, the charges against all of them are the same: Criminal Code 322. According to the 2nd part, this implies 2-7 years of imprisonment. there is also a woman among them. All the fathers of the village have already received the status of the accused, except for Martun, the only CP member of the village. Because he is the plaintiff, he is the one who wrote a complaint against all his fellow villagers to vacate the village. And if the case suddenly wins, then 30 families guarding the border of this small village will be killed, their fathers will be arrested, and the village will be left without an owner, completely defenseless. According to the residents of Khndzoresk, Martun Arzanyan, the only KP landowner of the village, wrote a complaint because he has a revenge against his fellow villagers. For 20 years, they say, he owned all the lands in the village. Martun Arzanyan, formerly a member of the RPA, who became a member of the Communist Party after 2018, who financed Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign in Syunik last year, exploited the lands of the village for 2 decades under the seal of his own “Asparez” cooperative. Good plots of land with a total area of ​​300 ha, which, according to Syun residents, were secretly expropriated by fake auctions, without warning the owners, and was done by Arzanyan from CP, while he was still the village head. And the irony is that now the subject of dispute in the court is not the estates owned by the KP-Akan at the price of alleged false privatizations and fake auctions, but the failure to share the harvest and good things received from them for 20 years with his fellow villagers. According to the residents, Arzanyan does not want to return what he stole to the village. Thus, starting from tomorrow, every day of the court session, Nerkin Khndzoresk will be emptied, leaving the village completely defenseless, right under the enemy’s nose. On July 7, the trial of Nerkin Olceski has been scheduled in the Syunik Court of General Jurisdiction. Therefore, from the morning, all the residents will go down to Goris court by buses, leaving a part of the border of Armenia and the protection of around 600 inhabitants to the hope of children, women and daughters-in-law of the village. It’s no secret that this small village is now under direct fire, the Azeris are only 500 meters away from it, they can even see the contents of an Armenian’s bag leaving the store. Let’s not forget: Inner Olshesk is the enemy’s appetite and has been on Aliyev’s agenda since the very day when, after the end of the war, Pashinyan announced that he and Ilham Aliyev had an VERBAL EXCHANGE OF NAMES, and according to that, in December 2020, he handed over villages and heights from Syunik to the enemy, according to his wording, to make Syunik safer. for: Suzy Badoyan

Speculation is ripe that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will announce the annexation of the breakaway northern part of Cyprus in a couple of weeks.

Specifically, on July 20 when the invasion of Turkey in Cyprus back in 1974 is marked – in a celebratory mood in the Turkish-held north.

Health-permitting, Erdogan is expected to visit northern Cyprus to ‘celebrate’ the dark anniversary amongst speculation that he will make the annexation move, Philenews reported on Wednesday.

The Turkish government, it added, has already paved the way for such an announcement through several actions.

In addition to the political control exercised by Turkey in the occupied territories, the recent protocol Ankara signed with the occupying regime is a kind of a road map towards annexation.

The Turkish Cypriot newspaper Halkin Sesi recently focused on the issues of the ‘imminent’ annexation of the territories occupied by Turkey.

It cites Turkish columnist Cevheri Guven who wrote that Erdogan intends to annex occupied Cyprus now as part of his re-election campaign.

the news of the passing of Anoush Mathevosian whose philanthropy stretched across the United States, Armenia, and Artsakh. 

Services will be on July 11 at 10 AM at Holy Martyrs Armenian Church in Bayside, Queens, New York City, followed by a graveside service at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Flushing, NY.

A self-made New York area real estate entrepreneur who started in the nursing profession, Mathevosian’s support for educational institutions in Armenia and Artsakh was of a scale that benefited generations of students. Through the Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) she sponsored major improvements at Yerevan State University, built a new school in Artsakh, a summer camp in Yegheknadzor, and in the earthquake-stricken town of Vanadzor, her benefaction was received with the naming of a school in her honor. 

Mathevosian was especially proud of the scholarship recipients at the Yerevan State University who were able to continue their education and pursue professions thanks to the fund she established at the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America for the annual distribution of awards to worthy students.
Mathevosian was also a longtime supporter of the Armenian Assembly and served on the Board of Governors of the Armenian National Institute and the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial, until her passing. She designated Dr. Rouben Adalian as her successor on the AGMM board. Anoush Mathevosian was the originator of the idea for the establishment of an Armenian Genocide museum in Washington, DC, a project which she generously encouraged and which to the regret of the Armenian Assembly family and the community became entangled in specious litigation that derailed the opening of a physical facility at the D.C. site whose purchase she contributed to. Despite the awful setback, she remained supportive of the idea and saw the launch of an online version of the museum which with its interactive features and galleries regularly attracts the attention of educators, students, and visitors who are learning about the Armenian Genocide. “Anoush Mathevosian’s extensive philanthropy, encouragement of educational advancement, and love for the Armenian people set exemplary standards. Her readiness to distribute widely her resources speaks to the quality of an individual who only wanted the best of opportunity for her people,” said Assembly co-chairs Anthony Barsamian and Van Z. Krikorian. “We are lucky to have known her, as she was a remarkable person whose positive legacy will live on.”  Both as a patriotic Armenian and a health professional, Mathevosian followed events and developments in Armenia closely. She spoke passionately about the virtues, and faults, of the Armenian people as she saw them. Much as she wanted to see young Armenians receive the benefits of a good education and spend their summers in healthy activities, Mathevosian also promoted women’s health by supporting the American Armenian Wellness Center.

Reported by the Armenian Assembly of America

By Harut Sassounian

Just when you think you have come across every oddity in Armenia, someone will surprise you with a brand new one.

Let we warn you that this problem has nothing to do with internal politics. It has to do with incompetent, careless, and sometimes, corrupt officials whose unacceptable conduct has been going on for over 30 years in Armenia.

I received last week an email from Kevork Yazedjian, a scholar and activist in Armenia. He described his frustration and anger at an objectionable incident that he had just experienced. He addressed his email to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Head of the State Income Committee, and the High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs of Armenia. Kevork sent copies of his email to hundreds of Armenians in and out of Armenia to alert them and seek their intervention.
The problem started on June 27 when Kevork along with his sister and her husband went to the State Income Committee’s office to pick up Armenian books sent from the United States by Vahakn Kupelian who had shipped 78 copies of his mother’s, Siran Seza’s (1903-1973), two novels. Kupelian had asked Kevork to donate the books to libraries throughout Armenia and Artsakh. When the government official, Mr. Sahakyan, saw multiple copies of the two books, he became suspicious that Kevork was going to sell them. Sahakyan wrote a memo to the Customs Officers at the Yerevan airport, asking them to evaluate the price of these books and charge Kevork the corresponding import duty.
Once at the Customs Office, Kevork was shocked when five officials, after consulting with each other, told him that copies of the two novels will be sent to the National Security Service (NSS) to inspect their contents! Kevork wondered if censorship of books was part of NSS duties. He was concerned that by the time NSS employees finished reading the two novels, he could be asked to pay a large amount for storage fees. Disgusted by this violation of free speech in a “democratic country,” Kevork told the Customs officials that they can have the books.
After he sent several letters of protest to various officials, Kevork received on June 30 an unexpected phone call from Sahakyan, who asked him to come over so he can give him the books. When he arrived at the office the next day, Sahakyan was not there, but his boss received Kevork with utmost courtesy, saying that he had gotten many complaints about this case which had embarrassed him in front of the whole world. The Chief Customs Officer also claimed that his office had sent several pages of the novels to the National Security Service, asking them to review them urgently. The NSS had supposedly replied that there are no national security issues in the two novels. The first book, “Shattered Lives,” was published in 2015 and the second one, “Book of Genesis,” in 2019.
Given this frustrating experience and his serious interest in Armenian literature, Kevork has come up with a new proposal, asking the government to facilitate the transfer of Armenian books and periodicals to Armenia through diplomatic pouch by Armenia’s Embassies and Consulates overseas.
There is a second more shocking example of Armenian officials’ gross negligence which had serious medical and diplomatic repercussions.
After the Artsakh War of 2020, on Dec. 12, 2020 and January 9, 2021, the Armenian Relief Society (ARS) of Greece collected urgently needed humanitarian aid which was flown to Armenia by two Greek military planes. A small part of the cargo was released shortly after its arrival and distributed by the ARS. More than a year later, however, it was discovered that the bulk of the aid was still at the Customs’ warehouse at the Yerevan Airport. After several letters of complaints which had remained unanswered, Armenia’s recently-appointed Ambassador to Greece, Tigran Mkrtchyan, responded on June 28, 2022, with troubling news: While the ARS humanitarian aid was finally cleared from Customs, “due to the expiration of the items [medicines], part of the cargo had to be destroyed.”
Amb. Mkrtchyan was answering the Greek Armenian community’s letters sent to Prime Minister Pashinyan and other officials on Dec. 14, 2020 and February 7, 2022.
The urgently dispatched medicines were supposed to save the lives of Armenian soldiers wounded during the 2020 war. Who will be held responsible for the loss of the lives of the soldiers who were deprived of these medicines? Furthermore, has the Armenian government sent a letter of apology to the Greek government for the lengthy delay in releasing and destroying a part of the urgently flown medicines to Armenia? Greece may not be as responsive next time there is a medical emergency in Armenia. Besides Armenia’s utter negligence in clearing the cargo, the ARS did not even get a reply to its two letters until 18 months later!
This is a prime example of gross negligence. Regrettably, no Armenian official was held responsible for this scandalous behavior and no one was fired!
No good deed goes unpunished in Armenia!

“Actually, what is happening now in the parliament, in the legal sense, is the process of dismissal of Nikol Pashinyan, which was started by the “Civil Agreement” party.

In other words, in fact 66 CP deputies joined the opposition and started the formal process of removing Pashinyan from office,” said Edgar Ghazaryan, a member of the “Unification” movement and former RA ambassador to Poland, during the “Review” program of 168TV. “66 CP deputies voted and removed Ishkhan Saghatelyan and Vahe Hakobyan from office. They were the officials who were elected to their positions in the National Assembly as a result of the voting of the entire National Assembly. If Alen Simonyan, Hakob Arshakyan, Ruben Rubinyan were elected NA president and vice-presidents only as a result of the voting of CP deputies, deputies from all factions voted in favor of Ishkhan Saghatelyan’s candidacy.

It turns out that Ishkhan Saghatelyan was chosen by the National Assembly, and the others only by the CP faction. Now, the CP faction made a decision and dismissed the NA vice-president elected by the NA. Moreover, the fact that Ishkhan Saghatelyan or any other opposition figure should be the NA vice-president was not the result of the good will or charity of the CP, it is a requirement of the NA regulations and constitutional law. Now, if the government deposes an elected official who held that position by virtue of the law, it means that the constitutional law of the National Assembly has been violated, and the activity of the National Assembly is regulated by that constitutional law. Now, if the constitutional law regulating the activities of the National Assembly has been violated, it means that the legitimacy of the National Assembly is in doubt.

And in a parliamentary country, the National Assembly is the only body formed as a result of national elections,” he clarified, emphasizing that if the parliament is illegitimate, then the question arises: to whom is the government accountable? “In other words, Nikol Pashinyan also becomes illegitimate and, in fact, an official in the air,” he stressed. To the question whether these steps lead to the holding of extraordinary parliamentary elections, he answered. “I think that the extraordinary parliamentary elections are inevitable, but it is impossible to imagine if these authorities are in office. During Pashinyan’s tenure as Prime Minister, events took place in Armenia under the name of 2 extraordinary elections, which contained the crime of usurping power. It makes no sense to go with the same alleged criminals in the same power grab scenario. Early elections will be logical in the event that Nikol Pashinyan is removed from power, a temporary government is established, anti-crisis measures are implemented in this period, which is very important for our country, the political field calms down, and after that, early elections are organized.”

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience?

For four years, we have been wondering why only discredited, ignorant, servile people get positions and are promoted. What an incomprehensible love this is for such flawed, dangerous, harmful people for society and the state. Almost every appointment, every staff who is entrusted with a high position, who is encouraged, and promoted by the career ladder, is, to put it mildly, not characterized well by those who know him. If we don’t say that they are the scum of the given system and sector, the scum, the worst quality, the rude, the evil, the aggressive, the people who have repeatedly violated the rules of public coexistence.

Ask who becomes a judge, who is appointed as a minister and prosecutor, who is included in the Constitutional Court and Constitutional Reform Commission, who becomes a minister and deputy minister, governor and deputy governor, who gets medals and titles, even if they don’t say that this is the one with the worst reputation in our system. if it’s scum, then it’s very difficult to listen to something good. In this way, scoundrels and fools, ignorant and incompetent, servile and those who give their lives for their position have risen in all systems. As a result, not only the position is devalued, but the system begins to slowly collapse and disappear. Of course, the parliament, which has a role in the selection of some personnel, could oppose this process, RA President Vahagn Khachaturyan, the members of the government could stop it. But these of slavery,

Every time you think that it is no longer possible to appoint a worse staff than the previous one, but Nikol Pashinyan again exceeds your expectations and proves that there is scum out of scum, and worse than bad, ignorance knows no bounds and a fool can always be replaced. in vain. So that people like Aigektsu’s parable bless the predecessor of the house and pray for his sunshine, because if he is removed or if he leaves, bad things will happen to him.

We can, of course, conclude that the person sitting in the Prime Minister’s chair is trying to make himself stand out in the background of his footage and people say: poor Nikol, what should he do with these footage? We can also conclude that this is part of a conspiratorial plan to destroy and corrupt all systems and make the state gradually disappear by itself. We can also think that this is a consequence of the incompetence of the appointer and the personnel. As a result of the fact that there are no literate, honest, intelligent, free-thinking, hardworking, creative personnel left among us, that’s why the mud has risen to the surface. Choose the options yourself.

It is a fact that idiots and scoundrels, people rejected and despised by the public have appeared in significant and even elective positions in all state systems. Harmful and complex beings who are not able to work, create anything and provide public benefit.

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© 2008 – 2021 «Հրապարակ օրաթերթ»

by Abdullah Bozkurt,

In a sophisticated “pillaging and plundering” scheme that involved blatant abuse of power in the upper echelon of the Turkish government, associates of the corrupt President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defrauded the Czech Export Bank and its insurer EGAP of more than 400 million euros.

The scheme, part of a secret plan to enrich Erdoğan and his cronies in a series of unlawful seizures with the manipulation of regulatory bodies and the criminal justice system, was put into motion when Turkish conglomerate Naksan Holding, valued at $3.6 billion and comprising 51 companies, was forcibly taken over from its owners in July 2016, with new management installed to run it.

The seizure came a year after Erdoğan reportedly threatened the owners of Naksan in a private meeting at his residence in Istanbul during which he demanded $250 million in bribes to let the holding continue to operate. The owners of Naksan, members of the Nakıboğlu family, who are held in the highest regard in their community and who have owned and operated various businesses for six decades in Gaziantep province, refused to pay the bribe. In turn, a furious Erdoğan unleashed the wrath of the government on the owners to punish them for not coming up with the money.

The decision to take over the management of the holding and issue arrest warrants for the owners was rendered by one of a group of special projects courts called Sulh Ceza Hakimliği (Penal Courts of Peace, SCH), which were established by the Erdoğan government in 2014 to punish government critics, opponents and dissidents. The benches of the courts are staffed by partisans and loyalists who act in line with Erdoğan’s wishes. Over 1,000 companies including media outlets have so far been seized by the Erdoğan government, many of which were ultimately sold to cronies at bargain prices.

The goal is not just to send a chilling message across the business community in Turkey, but to also redistribute wealth and enrich businesspeople who sustain Erdoğan’s regime, fund its elections campaigns and help finance clandestine operations abroad to promote a firebrand political Islamist ideology in foreign countries.

As a result bogus charges of financing terrorism were brought against Naksan to create a pretext and to justify the unlawful takeover of the companies and the wrongful arrest of its owners, just like thousands of criminal cases in Turkey where the government often invoked counterterrorism laws to punish and imprison critics, dissidents and opponents who have unfavorable views of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In their pillaging crusade, Erdoğan and his people set their sights on Naksan Plastik, one of the most lucrative companies in the holding that was established by the family in 1980, with a current market value of 12 billion Turkish lira. First, the government caretakers who were running the company did a poor job in managing it. Naksan Plastik generated 1.2 billion lira in revenue in 2015 but dropped to 664 million lira the year after the takeover. While the firm posted TL 70.1 million in profits in 2015, it recorded a loss of TL 82.3 million in 2018.

That was not the only damage Erdoğan’s associates inflicted on the company. They drew up a reprehensible plan to ensure its transfer to their cronies even while the legal challenges were still pending in court. The company was not profitable after major losses following the takeover but was still worth well over a billion lira with sizable assets, brand recognition, factories, machinery and properties. The plan was put into motion when the government-controlled Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), a regulatory body that was managing Naksan after its takeover, announced a tender for the sale of Naksan Plastik on December 22, 2021.

The tender appeared to be nothing but a formality since the winner of the tender — ABY Plastik Ambalaj ve Enerji Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş. — had already been decided by the Erdoğan government long before the TMSF opened the bidding process. However, there was a small glitch in the plan. It turned out that Erdoğan’s associates were late in finalizing the paperwork for the establishment of ABY Plastik, which was formally announced to be in business in the official trade registry on December 30, 2021.

To compensate for the delay, the TMSF postponed the deadline for the sale until January 4, 2022 without offering any explanation. In other words, a company just established five days before the tender was allowed to enter the bidding for the purchase of Naksan Plastik. The trade records registered by the company show that ABY Plastik was established with capital of only 1 million Turkish lira by a single owner named Lütfi Atakan Abay, an industrialist close to the government.

The fact that a newly set up company with capital of only a million lira and absolutely no experience or past business activity in the plastics industry suddenly submitted a bid of 1.245 billion Turkish lira to purchase Naksan Plastik and made a deposit of 125 million lira suggests that it was nothing but a front company specially established to make this transfer. Abay has a number of companies operating in various industries but did not name any of them in the bidding process. Instead, the newly established firm was listed as bidder most likely because Abay wanted to protect himself from future litigation and avoid criminal charges in the event the rule of law makes a comeback in Turkey one day.

In the bidding on January 4, 2022, Yapıen Elektrik Üretim Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., a company owned by Zafer Yıldırım, a close family friend of President Erdoğan, offered 1.245 billion lira, followed by ABY Plastik. The TMSF later announced it would further negotiate the sale price with these two companies and held another bidding session on January 14. This time, ABY offered 1.251 billion lira, while Yapıen increased its original offer by only 4 million, allowing ABY to become the front runner.

In hindsight, it appears Yapıen’s entry into the bidding was nothing but a formality to make the sale appear legitimate when in fact the winner was decided long before. Erdoğan and his associates did not trust any other bidder to disrupt their plans and wanted to make sure the plot would work smoothly by having Yapıen, a company they controlled, enter the bidding process to clear the path for ABY.

In fact, no owners from Yapıen showed up for the bidding, which is quite unusual in such high value sales in Turkey. Instead an accountant with a power of attorney followed the procedures on behalf of the company. In contrast, Akbay personally appeared for the auction.

Another red flag in the bidding process was the fact TMSF officials denied Naksan’s representatives and lawyers from attending or monitoring the bidding process, which cast more suspicion of foul play. Although they applied days in advance to be present at the tender and there was no rule blocking their attendance, TMSF officials refused to let them into the room while the bidding was underway.

As expected, Erdoğan’s associates lined up all the pieces for a smooth sale. The Competition Authority (Rekabet Kurumu) approved the transfer on April 7, 2022, and the TMSF formally awarded the sale to ABY on April 13 with a payment plan of 36 months. As a result, the government simply handed over a highly profitable company for one cent on the dollar to a businessman who has links to the Erdoğan government.

There were multiple irregularities before the tender. For one, the TMSF used the audit report prepared in January 2019 by KPMG Bağımsız Denetim ve Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavirlik A.Ş., a global audit, accounting and consulting firm which, according to people who have intimate knowledge of the process, downplayed the value of Naksan Plastik. In order to avoid liability and future legal entanglements, KPMG put a disclaimer in its report saying that they had made the assessment based solely on the data provided to them by the government trustees who had taken over the management of Naksan.

In a preface for the report, KPMG partner Ümit Bilirgen noted that his company would not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information in the assessment and declined to warrant that the report followed international accounting standards unless explicitly specified. A similar disclaimer was also used by Mazar Denge, an accounting and auditing firm, which issued an expert report on the finances and assets of Naksan on June 30, 2019.

According to experts who spoke to Nordic Monitor, a review of the data used in these reports reveals why KPMG and Mazar Denge wanted to emphasize their disclaimers in the reports. These experts believe the auditing firms wanted to avoid any liability in the future by disowning the data provided by company managers under the control of the TMSF. Updated versions of the reports by and large followed the initial assessment reports.

For example, the TMSF claimed the value of land owned by Naksan Plastik was 750 lira per square meter, when in fact the market value in the same neighborhood was 1,500 to 2,000 lira. Again the same distortion was made for the value of the buildings. According to the TMSF, Naksan Plastik’s buildings were valued at 1,450 lira per square meter although the market rate was 7,500 lira. The value of the buildings and land alone owned by Naksan Plastik is worth $120 million.

What is more, the Turkish lira has lost much of its value since 2019, when the assessment was made, and the TMSF used outdated figures in the January 2022 sale even though the plastics industry is primarily based on imported petroleum products and chemicals that are traded in dollars and euros, not lira. In just 2021 alone, the lira shed 44 percent of its value against the dollar. The loss was much higher when compared to 2019, when Mazars and KPMG made their original assessment.

In other words, the assessment of the value of the company and its assets made with deeply discounted figures in 2019 was some $200 million (1.3 million lira). That low-ball figure amounted to some $90 million in 2022 when the sale was made.

The sale of Naksan Plastik was further sweetened by the TMSF which, in an unusual move, decided to assume all the debts and liabilities the company had before transferring it to ABY Plastik. That means Turkish taxpayers would have to shoulder the company’s obligations while ABY Plastik enjoyed all the profits and assets of the company. In fact, by some calculations, it will have recouped the sales price with the revenue Naksan Plastik will generate in the next two years.

But that is not the whole story of this twisted wealth seizure in Turkey. It turns out that Naksan Plastik was named as collateral for six loans Naksan Holding obtained from the Czech Export Bank (Česká exportní banka, a.s., or CEB), owned by the Czech state, between 2010 and 2014 for a total of 433 million euros without interest or fees. The loan, originally approved in 2009 for 486 million euros, was for the construction of the Yunus Emre lignite power plant that was to be built in Eskişehir province by Adularya Enerji Elektrik Üretimi ve Madencilik A.Ş., an energy company owned by Naksan Holding.

Repayment of the loan was supposed to begin when the power plant was brought online and started generating electricity. But the Erdoğan government seized the holding before that happened and did not allow the construction of the plant to be completed. The repayment never began after the government takeover, and the loan was deliberately allowed to default.

Erdoğan’s associates, who had already made huge profits from the cheap sale of Naksan Plastik to a shell company, came up with another plan to make additional money out of the defaulted loan as well. They decided to use a mining company named Doruk Madencilik Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş. to take over the 433-million-euro debt for collection. According to the CEB’s public statement, the total amount was 553 million euros with interest and fees as of September 1, 2020.

It was highly peculiar for any company to assume a debt that had not been repaid at all and in a case where the original borrowers had either been in prison or abroad since the government takeover, and it made no sense for any company to put itself in an entanglement with the government. There is no guarantee of success in debt collection, even if the original loan agreement is governed by English law, and it would take years before they would see a cent of that debt to be paid.

However, Erdoğan’s associates had already made sure they would get their money back plus a huge markup. Sources familiar with the scheme told Nordic Monitor that everything was decided in backroom politics that insured a desirable outcome in the debt collection stemming from the tragic circumstances Naksan found itself in.

In other words, Doruk and its owner, Sebahattin Yıldız, also CEO of Yıldızlar SSS Holding, were assured a good profit for this before taking on the huge debt from the Czech bank. The secret plan worked smoothly. When the transfer of the debt to the new company was approved by TMSF deputy president Nevzat Avunç and TMSF official Arzu Yaman on May 4, 2021, suspicions that the deal was prearranged were confirmed.

While they were arranging everything on the TMSF end, Doruk mining company officials started talks with Czech bank officials in April 2021, brokered by Turkish Ambassador in Prague Egemen Bağış, a political appointee and former minister who was incriminated in an Iran sanctions busting scheme in 2013 and removed from the government for taking bribes in the millions of dollars from an Iranian operative. With the help of Bağış, the company managed to convince bank officials to sell the loan to Doruk for collection.

A source who has intimate details of the talks told Nordic Monitor that the Czech bank sold the loan to Doruk for 70 million euros, with 20 million euros paid up front and the balance to be paid in monthly million-euro installments. The total debt transferred to the ownership of Doruk was 485 million euros, which means the bank gave up 416 million euros.

The Turks told the bank they had little to no chance of recouping their money in full because of the legal complications in Turkey and highlighted that Naksan Holding and its owners are facing terrorism charges. The issue also became an intergovernmental matter between Turkey and Czechia but was left unresolved. What the bank did not know was that the entire scheme was in fact orchestrated by Erdoğan and his associates and that they were bent on defrauding the bank with the blatant abuse of their positions in Turkey.

The transfer of the debt from the Czech bank to Doruk was finalized on September 1, 2021, and the bank informed the TMSF that it had turned over the debt to Doruk, whose owners were certain that they would collect more money from the TMSF at the expense of Turkish taxpayers.

Although it had lost money, the CEB nevertheless appeared pleased in the end with the removal of a non-performing loan from its balance sheet. In his foreword to the 2021 auditor’s report, bank CEO Daniel Krumpolc said “CEB managed to achieve a 90 percent reduction in high-risk receivables in 2021 compared to 2015. The successful sale of the receivable from Adularya Enerji Elektrik A.S. in the beginning of 2022 finally closed the case of an unfinished project of a lignite power plant in Turkey, reducing the share of the Bank’s high-risk receivables below 5 percent.”

It is not clear how much the bank or government credit insurer EGAP (Exportní garanční a pojišťovací společnost, a. s.), which insured the credit for Turkey, lost in this scheme. The full details of the debt transfer were never made public in Czechia. Why the bank and its insurer did not opt to launch a case in the UK against the TMSF and the Turkish government, which were in control of debt guarantor Naksan Plastik, and collect the unpaid debt directly is another question that remains unanswered.

After taking over the debt from the Czech bank, Doruk immediately started the collection procedure in Turkey, on December 16, 2021, filing petitions with the Court of Claims in Ankara and asking the court to enforce the repayment of the debt from Naksan Plastik and Adularya Energy. They knew that the TMSF would shoulder the debt and be willing to pay the amount in full plus interest. As a result Erdoğan and his associates are set to make at least an additional 416 million euros by setting up this scheme. The losers are Turkish and Czech taxpayers as well as Naksan family members.

Bağış, who had worked closely with Erdoğan for years and was involved in a bribery scheme with an Iranian sanctions buster, played a pivotal role in defrauding the Czech bank and the Czech insurer, facilitating the debt transfer using his diplomatic clout in Prague. He had hosted Doruk’s owner Yıldız at the embassy residence and publicly promoted him.

The TMSF is now gearing up to sell Adularya as well and plans to hold an auction on July 5, 2022 at an opening price of 1.7 billion Turkish lira. The company had already spent 700 million euros to build the lignite-fired power plant, spending not only the funds obtained from the CEB but also its own money. The power plant, which consists of two units with generating capacity of 145 MW each, was already in the testing phase of its first unit and near completion of the second when the Erdoğan government seized it.

It is also worth noting that the bank appears to have dropped the ball on this debt sale and did not do due diligence. According to the tender conditions announced by the bank, it is supposed to ensure that the funds obtained to purchase the debt “shall not be generated by activities considered criminal.” According to sources Nordic Monitor talked to, the entire scheme is part of a larger criminal conspiracy cooked up by powerful people in Turkey with connections to the president’s office for the purpose of defrauding Turkish and Czech taxpayers.

The conditions also required the bank to make sure anti-money laundering qualification criteria and compliance with EU, OFAC and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) rules are followed. Turkish Ambassador Bağış, who was intimately involved in the negotiations between Turkish businessman Yıldız and the Czech bank and its insurer, was implicated in a US federal case involving Iranian sanctions buster Reza Zarrab, who was arrested and indicted for violating US law. Zarrab later turned government witness and testified about Bağış and others in the money laundering scheme on behalf of sanctioned Iranian entities. He admitted he had handed over millions of euros in bribes to Bağış for the minister’s role of facilitating the scheme that ran afoul of US and Turkish laws.

While the negotiations on the debt sale were still ongoing, in October 2021 Turkey was placed under surveillance by global money-laundering watchdog FATF for shortcomings in combatting money laundering and terrorism financing. FATF’s listing of Turkey on its grey list of countries means the Erdoğan government has strategic deficiencies in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing. Yet, the bank moved forward with the talks and signed the transfer on February 23, 2022.

According to 168.am, the authorities have initiated a criminal prosecution against Angela Tovmasyan, the founder of the “Mirror” club and the Hayeli.am website, within the same “criminal organization” as in the case of producer Armen Grigoryan, who is currently detained. Information has appeared in our hands, according to which, on June 27, a comparative check carried out at the Information Center of the RA Police (IC) revealed that, without entering the department, an IC was sent by the Investigative Department of the National Security Service on June 17 under Article 226 of the RA Criminal Code. 5822122 criminal case form one statistical card initiated with the characteristics of the 1st part, regarding the case of actions aimed at publicly humiliating the national dignity by Angela Vardani Tovmasyan. According to our information, the investigation is conducted by the investigative department of the RA National Security Service.