Many regular readers here sent me versions of this article, so I would like to thank all of you who did, because this is not your "typical gold repatriation story." In fact, there's one of those 'little statements" in it that provoked some "wondering" along "high octane speculation" lines.

Here's the story:

Turkey Will Repatriate All Gold From The US In Attempt To Ditch The Dollar

There is it: Turkey has joined the growing list of countries that have called for the return of its gold reserves stockpiled in the New York Fed, following Germany, Venezuela, Austri8a and the Netherlands. As the article notes, Turkey seems to have been quietly doing this for a number of years:

After Venezuela, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands prudently repatriated a substantial portion (if not all) of their physical gold held at the NY Fed or other western central banks in recent years, this morning Turkey also announced that it has decided to repatriate all its gold stored in the US Federal Reserve and deliver it to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, according to reports in Turkey's Yeni Safak. It won't be the first time Turkey has asked the NY Fed to ship the country's gold back: in recent years, Turkey repatriated 220 tons of gold from abroad, of which 28.7 tons was brought back from the US last year.

What's different now is that Turkey's ottomaniacal would-be Sultan, Recep Tayipp Erdogan has announced the move and made it clear that this is a move away from the dollar:

Meanwhile, Erdogan has taken a tough stance against the US currency, criticized dollar loans and saying that international loans should be given in gold instead. "Why do we make all loans in dollars? Let’s use another currency. I suggest that the loans should be made based on gold,” Erdoğan said during a speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul on April 16, according to Hurriyet. In what some saw an appeal for a gold standard by the Turkish president, Erdogan added that “with the dollar the world is always under exchange rate pressure. We should save states and nations from this exchange rate pressure. Gold has never been a tool of oppression throughout history."

One has to wonder if there is some dirty secret quietly being circulated in central bankdom and various national capitals about the New York Fed that we do not know about, for every time I encounter this gold repatriation story or hear of yet another nation joining it, I am reminded of what I called the "Hjalmar Schacht-New York Fed incident." Hjalmar Schacht was the interwar president of the German Reichsbank, and it was Hjalmar Schacht who put an end to the German hyper-inflation and currency speculation, stabilizing the German economy long before the Nazis took power. It was also Hjalmar Schacht who, along with Benjamin Strong (head of the NY Fed) and Montague Norman (head of the Bank of England), came up with the basic idea for the Bank of International Settlements. Again, it was Hjalmar Schacht who was, for a brief period, Hitler's Reichsbank chief, and at Nuremberg, Schacht received a suspiciously light sentence, only to resurface after the war involved in a number of shady projects around the world, that have connections to what I've called the post-war Nazi International.

But in 1928, Schacht visited the New York Federal Reserve Bank and his friend Benjamin Strong, and toured the vaults. What followed was related in Schacht's own memoirs: When he asked to see the Reichsbank's gold, the staff of the bank came back to Strong and Schacht, and nervously reported that they could not find it. Schacht, rather than become upset that Germany's gold reserves in the USA seemed to have gone inexplicably missing, merely smiled and told Mr. Strong word to the effect "that's ok, I know you're good for it."

To indulge my high octane speculation a bit more, perhaps the various "gold repatriating nations" have had their own "Hjalmar Schacht moments" at the New York Fed, only unlike Schacht, they're not publishing it in their memoirs. In any case, the repatriation movement suggests something is drastically wrong at the NY Fed.

But when one turns to Turkey and the Zero Hedge article, a new motivation is being offered for the repatriation, at least, in Turkey's case:

Well, now that Turkey will soon have all of its gold on the ground, Erdogan will be able to launch a gold-backed currency if he so desires. Unfortunately, all signs point to the gold being repatriated only so it can be raided, pillaged and promptly deposited in offshore vaults by members of the ruling oligarchy. (Emphasis added)

What's disturbing here is the implication that the Turkish deep state - Mr. Erdogan included - has concluded that "something is coming" and that they need Turkey's gold reserves so that they can plunder it and stabilize their own personal situation.

And that, of course, raises the possibility that the gold repatriation may be about more than just abandoning the dollar, or mistrust of the NY Fed (after Schacht's experience, who can blame them?), but may be because the international oligarchy, as always, it looking out for itself.

See you on the flip side...