Turkey Takes Possession Of 220 Tons Of Gold Repatriated From Federal Reserve

This is about as underreported as it gets. A tiny, almost nonsexist report appeared in Trend.az news service on Thursday April 19 announcing that Turkey’s Central Bank had moved 220 tons of gold out of the Federal Reserve System to take possession in Turkey. Trend is also reporting that an additional 95 tons of gold is being moved out of the Federal Reserve and back to Turkey.

Remember, gold is not money and more akin to a barbarous relic that is only held by Central Banks as a tradition. Right. Then why are some central banks repatriating their gold out of the Federal Reserve as Turkey just did?

In an article by Rufiz Hafizoglu and published at Trend.az, a news service located in Azerbaijan, the Turkish government has reportedly taken possession of 220 tons gold that was repatriated from the Federal Reserve. Trend did not specify a government official nor a government agency simply reporting Turkey’s Central Bank has transferred its gold reserves stored in the US Federal Reserve System to Turkey. Turkey’s total gold reserves was the entire 220 tons Turkey reported to have taken possession of on April 19, 2018. The total current value represents approximately $25.3 billion.

In the report Trend cited an additional 95 tons of gold that two different Turkish banks acquired, Ziraat and Vakifbank, but it is unclear to us wether this 95 tons is in addition to the reported 220 tons or is included in the overall.

Sputnik News is reporting slightly different amounts of gold being repatriated and citing different sources.

Local media cited government sources as saying that the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has transferred its gold reserves from the US Federal Reserve System to Ankara.

In March 2018, the CBRT’s gold reserves were worth 25.3 billion dollars; 220 tons of Turkish gold was stored in the US, according to the sources.

The largest private Turkish banks also withdrew their gold reserves from abroad, responding to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call “to get rid of exchange rate’s pressure and to use gold against the dollar.”

In particular, the Halk Bankasi bank transferred 29 tons of gold to Turkey, according to the Turkish newspaper Milliyet. Source

It seems nations making request to have their gold returned is being treated much differently these days and only being reported AFTER the gold has been shipped and accepted at the final destination.

Back in 2012 Venezuelan was one of the first nations to step up and make a lot of noise about wanting their gold repatriated. Several mainstream news articles and lots of fanfare from Venezuela ensured the world was watching.

The Bloomberg News story appended here reports on the arrival in Caracas on January 30, 2012, of the final shipment of Venezuela’s gold, 14 tonnes carried on a single flight. Bloomberg quotes the president of Venezuela’s central bank, Nelson Merentes, as saying: “In two months we’ve brought 160 tons of gold valued at around $9 billion back to Venezuela.”

By contrast, the Bundesbank first planned to take seven years to recover 300 tonnes from the New York Fed. If Venezuela’s pace had been adopted, the Bundesbank could have recovered those 300 tonnes in four months, and, if it has been so inclined, could have recovered its remaining 1,200 tonnes at the New York Fed in another 15 months or so. Source

After Venezuela, Germany’s repatriation story went off the rails and the news stories brought into question the Federal Reserve having any gold at all and brought into question why the Federal Reserve has not conducted a full audit since 1954. Germany had requested 300 tons – of Germany’s gold – be returned and the Federal Reserve explained it would take 7 years to return Germany’s gold back to Germany. There are, to this day, serious questions surrounding the German gold repatriation. Peter Boehringer has his doubts and he is the chief architect of the entire German gold repatriation movement.

As GATA Reported in mid 2014

FRANKFURT, Germany — The 300 tons of gold that Germany is bringing home from a New York strongroom is being transported little by little and will take until 2020 to complete, the German central bank said Thursday.

Emotions have regularly flared in Germany about why 45 per cent of the country’s 3,391 tons of gold bars is stashed deep beneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan.

The original reason was that West Germany earned it through trade surpluses in the 1950s and 1960s and never moved it out of the United States to ensure that it did not lose the lot in the event Germany was invaded by the Soviet Union.

In the middle of all the news surrounding Germany’s gold the Netherlands called home 122.5 tons of gold with no issues and no fanfare. The Netherland’s gold repatriation, like Turkey’s today, was reported in hindsight. Fewer question, fewer eyes to see what happened or didn’t happen.

So, it’s not surprising that a little known news service in the middle of Eastern Europe, the Heartland, is reporting on this latest gold repatriation. Seems like mums-the-word is the go-forward approach to the Federal Reserve returning gold to it’s rightful owner.

https://thedailycoin.org/2018/04/20/turkey-takes-possession-of-220-tons-of-gold-repatriated-from-federal-reserve/

*********