A senior member of Iran’s parliament has said Sunday that Iranians bought $7 billion of real estate in Turkey in three years, saving it from bankruptcy.

Mojtaba Yousefi member of the parliament’s presidium said that between 2018-2020 Iranians took $7 billion out of the country to buy property, while Turkey has become aggressive toward Iran. In recent days, there has been tensions between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey.

As US sanctions were imposed in 2018, many well-to-do Iranians tried to protect their capital by taking money out of the country and investing abroad. There is no clear overall figure but numbers between $40-60 billion have been mentioned.

By buying property in Turkey, Iranians hope to gain Turkish citizenship and be able to do business without being restricted by US sanctions that makes it hard for Iranians to even open bank accounts in other countries.

In the past three years, Turkish official figures show Iranians buying more than 3,000 residential unites every year, but purchases of other properties by registered companies is not available.