Halkbank

Turkey?s Ziraat Bankas? General Manager Hüseyin Ayd?n has told reporters that the state-run lender plans to launch its off-shoot, Ziraat Kat?l?m Bankas?, an Islamic participation bank, on May, 29, which is the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul.

Turkey's third-largest state-run bank Vak?fbank received regulatory approval yesterday from banking watchdog BDDK to establish an Islamic banking division, the Official Gazette has announced.

The bank will need to own a capital of $300 million.

With the approval, the bank has nine months to establish its banking unit according to Turkish law.

A 13-year-old student in western Turkey has testified on suspicion that he ?insulted? President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Facebook.

Turkey?s foreign trade deficit narrowed in January to $4.31 billion, a 37.5 percent decrease from the same month of the previous year, due to the decrease in oil prices and the rise in gold exports, mainly to Switzerland.

One of the prosecutors of the huge Dec. 17, 2013 corruption case, which embroiled many high-profile suspects including former cabinet ministers, has said the former ministers played two key roles in helping Iran break the U.S. embargo: Organizing fake documents, and making sure that Reza Zarrab remained the sole actor in the process.

A civil aviation company belonging to Reza Zarrab, the Iranian-Azerbaijani businessman at the center of Turkey's suppressed corruption probe, has purchased a new plane worth $58 million.

Former interior minister's son Barış Güler and Iranian businessman Abdullah Happani, who were arrested as part of the Dec. 17, 2014 massive corruption and bribery probe have received their money and gold seized last year.

Kurdish oil has been shipped by 39 oil tankers from Ceyhan but Iraqi Kurdish authorities have not yet paid all payments to Turkey's Halkbank, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has told journalists.

Millions of Turkish Liras found and seized as part of the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption probe from the houses of former Interior Minister Muammer Güler's son, Barış Güler, and former Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan, will be repaid with interest, after an objection to the dismissal of the probe was cancelled.

A landmark graft probe into senior government figures was officially dropped a day before its first anniversary when the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office rejected an objection to its decision to not pursue proceedings in the case.