ISTANBUL (Marmara)–Turkey presented evidence claiming false the accusations of it having access to gold which the Nazis seized from the Jews.
The International Jewish Congress and the United States–where there exists a strong Jewish lobby–are heading a movement to reclaim Jewish gold which was stolen by the Nazis during World War II.
In a statement released in the US in May of 1997–Turkey is noted as one of the countries which made monetary profit from the stolen Jewish gold. Today–Turkey is being asked to return to the Jewish people the equivalent of 10 tons of gold.
The statement claims that neutral countries during the war such as Switzerland–Sweden–Portugal–Spain–Argentina and Turkey–taking advantage of their neutral stance reaped profit from the confiscated gold.
In an interview with Cumhurriyet reporter Lale Sareibrahimoglu–State official Shukriv Sina Gurel said that Turkey has presented the US with documen’s claiming its innocence in the matter. He said Turkey could not have taken gold from the same Jews which it had welcomed to Turkey 500 years prior.
Turkey also pointed out that–contrary to the May 1997 statement–it was not a neutral country during WWII. Turkey was an ally to Britain and France. Turkey agreed that Switzerland did acquire profit from Jewish gold–however deemed it unfair to list Turkey as one of the neutral states.
As a second charge against Turkey–Germany claims that after capturing Belgium in 1943 and confiscating the gold from the Jewish population there–it transferred the gold to Turkey.
Turkey also denies that accusation and has presented evidence claiming that the gold Turkey received from Germans that year was a form of payment the Germans owed Turkey due to a 1942 agreement. According to Turkey–that gold was rightfully Turkey’s and had no relation to the gold from Belgium.