Turkey Removes Gold From Federal Reserve, Further Dissolving US Alliance

Investment Watch – by Daniel Carter

This week, the relationship between the US and Turkey has taken another gigantic hit. It appears Turkey has joined the other powerhouses of the Eastern world (Russia and China) by preparing for economic warfare against the US in the near future. At the very least, it strongly symbolizes the end of the 70-year alliance between Turkey and the US.

Turkey has decided to pull all of its gold reserves from the US Federal Reserve System. The Central Bank of Turkey requested that the 220 tons of gold be returned to Turkey. At the same time, two Turkish banks – Ziraat and Vakifbank – chose to remove their 95 tons of gold from the Federal Reserve as well.  

The reason for this move is believed to be in anticipation of US sanctions on Turkey. This is the US’s way of punishing Turkey for not going along with their plans in Syria and for becoming closer allies with Russia, China and Iran.

The US-Turkey alliance began to deteriorate as the US became more involved in the Syrian war. Turkey shares a border with Syria, which inevitably led to the US stepping on Turkey’s toes. The US armed and trained Kurdish forces in northeast Syria to help “fight ISIS” (I.e. overthrow the Syrian government). Turkey was enraged by this development because it puts a powerful and unfriendly force right on their border. The US also armed other rebel groups in the region, which could also be a major threat to Turkey.

After the Syrian war was in full swing, there was a coup attempt made to overthrow the Turkish government. Turkey blamed the coup on the US. Although there is no public evidence available showing the US was behind the coup, it makes sense considering that the present Turkish government did not want to go along with the US’s plans in Syria.

To make matters worse, an outraged Turkish government then gave away the secret locations of US military bases in Syria. The US government then became outraged that Turkey had put their ground troops in danger and possibly given up some strategic advantages. There has been very little cooperation between the two countries ever since.

Turkey has been consistently moving away from its alliance with the US and closer toward an alliance with Russia, China and Iran; the US’s most formidable enemies. Turkey has recently purchased S-400 missiles (surface-to-air missiles) from Russia. This transaction shows Turkey and Russia’s willingness to work together militarily, while the US’s military strategy is at odds with Turkey’s.

It is no secret that China and Russia want to move to another gold standard to crush the US dollar’s dominance in the world. China and Russia have amassed very large gold reserves to do just that. Now Turkey is joining the Eastern powers and helping them build gold reserves for the coming assault on the US dollar.

Investment Watch