Azerbaijan, Baku, July 11 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
Iran's entrepreneurs working in Turkey are buying large volumes of gold in that country and reselling it to Iran's Central Bank, or to private individuals in the country, Zaman newspaper said today with reference to a source in the economic block of the Turkish government.
According to the information, that's why gold exports from Turkey to Iran for the last six months reached a record level of $3 billion.
After imposing sanctions on Iran's oil industry, Tehran fears that they could cover the gold sector, so the country's central bank accumulated a large volume of gold, the newspaper said.
A source said that along with Turkey, Iran buys large volumes of gold in Dubai (UAE) and India.
According to some Turkish media outlets, Turkey and Iran have chosen this method of payment for energy resources imported into Turkey from Iran after the SWIFT Company which was engaged in money transfers to Iran, stopped cooperating with Tehran in March this year.
Information that Turkey pays for energy resources imported from Iran in gold is wrong, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said.
"The whole payment is made in the form of corresponding agreements signed between the parties," Yildiz said.
He said the Botas Company makes payments in dollars, while Tupras is in lira. According to the Turkish Statistics Institute, gold exports from Turkey to Iran in March-May 2012 amounted to 60 tons.