Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that he was looking to expand the gold trade with the Venezuelan regime

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that he wanted to expand the gold trade with Venezuela despite warnings from the United States, which oversees trade between Turkey and Venezuela as a result of the sanctions imposed on Nicolás Maduro's regime for systematic violations of human rights.

"After our visit to Venezuela, the Vice President of [Nicolás] Maduro came to our country and carried out badessments, "the Turkish president acknowledged at a rally in Corum, near Ankara.

"This vice president praised the industry of Corum, the success of his brothers Corum. God willing, we will take Corum to another level in the field of gold trading ", he added.

Erdogan did not name the Venezuelan official to whom he was referring, but the state agency Anadolu In January he announced the visit to Turkey Tareck El Aissami, vice-president of the economic region of Venezuela and close collaborator of Maduro.

According to the press, Venezuela exported to Turkey for 900 million euros in 2018and in mid-January, the two countries agreed to increase their exports after an agreement providing for the refining of Venezuelan gold at a Corum plant.

A senior US official then said Washington was considering trade between Ankara and Caracas, especially Venezuela's gold exports to Turkey, to determine whether they violated US sanctions imposed on Caracas.

"We are examining the nature of Turkish-Venezuelan business activities and, if we find a violation of our sanctions, we would obviously act," said the official in Ankara.

About fifty countries, among them, the United States and 23 members of the European Union (EU), recognized or supported the Speaker of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, who was proclaimed president on January 23rd.

Maduro, on the other hand, has the support of a short list of countries, including Turkey, Russia and China.

On January 23, after the swearing-in of Guaidó, Erdogan called Maduro to support him.

Erdogan and Maduro have had good relations for several years. Maduro was one of the first leaders in the world to support Erdogan after the coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016.