UPDATE - Turkish Deputy PM dismisses Erdogan allegations

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY BOZDAG

By Cansu Dikme and Kubra Chohan

ANKARA (AA) - Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag on Thursday said the country’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is part of “a big campaign of slander against Turkey”.

“There is a big campaign of slander against Turkey; the FETO and U.S. sympathizers in the New York leg, and the CHP's head in the Turkey leg,” Bozdag told Anadolu Agency’s Editor’s Desk in Ankara.

He said CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu should reveal the content of the documents alleging wrongdoing on the part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to everyone in front of journalists, parliamentarians and on television instead of "waving the papers at the group meeting".

On Tuesday, Kilicdaroglu, in a speech to party lawmakers, presented documents he claimed were evidence of his claims that relatives of Erdogan had stashed money abroad.

Erdogan rejected the allegations and vowed to resign if they could be proved.

- Turkish banker trial in US

Bozdag described the ongoing U.S. trial of Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla as “theatre”, comparing it to Kilicdaroglu’s accusations against Erdogan in Turkey.

“We shouldn’t think of these two as separate cases. Because the goal of both is Turkey; both target Turkey’s president and its government,” Bozdag said.

Bozdag said he did not expect “justice” in the U.S. trial.

Turkish businessman Riza Sarraf has testified in the ongoing trial of Atilla, the deputy general manager of Turkey’s Halkbank.

Sarraf was detained last year on charges of violating sanctions against Iran; Atilla was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year on similar sanctions violations charges.