Turkey has named a banker convicted of sanctions busting in the US as the new chief executive of the Istanbul stock exchange, the finance minister has said. The appointment of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former deputy director general of Halkbank, comes almost a week after US federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against the Turkish state-run bank. Halkbank is accused of participating in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to evade economic sanctions on Iran.

Atilla was found guilty by a New York court in January 2018 of plotting to help Tehran evade American sanctions on Iranian oil proceeds. He was released from prison in July 2019. "After returning to his family and country following his wrongful conviction, Hakan Atilla's period of relaxation has come to an end," Finance Minister Berat Albayrak - also President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law - said on Monday. "He will start work as the new Istanbul Stock Exchange managing director.

I wish him and the stock exchange good luck," Albayrak added. "Mehmet Hakan Atilla was elected as CEO at the Borsa Istanbul board meeting dated October 21, 2019. Atilla will act as CEO and board member," the stock exchange said in a statement. The decision to give such an important role to Atilla appears to be intended as a defiant message to US authorities during a moment of acute tension between Ankara and Washington.