ANKARA- A U.S. jury's decision to convict a Turkish banker for helping Iran evade sanctions is "a scandalous decision of a scandalous case", the spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Ibrahim Kalin made the comment during a news conference in Ankara a day after Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey's majority state-owned Halkbank HALKB.IS , was convicted on five of six counts he faced, including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions law, in a Manhattan federal court.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan) ((tuvan.gumrukcu@tr.com; +903122927021; Reuters Messaging: tuvan.gumrukcu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))