The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global terror finance watchdog that works to “set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” Turkey has found itself on the FATF’s “grey list” after being discovered to be financially supporting jihad terror groups. Money laundering is the principal mode of terror funding, and Turkey has been unsuccessful in stopping this activity on its territory; the FATF has found that funds from Turkish sources go to various terror outfits in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Sanctioned as international terrorists, Jaish-e-Muhammad founder Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed continue to be free in Pakistan, which “needs to demonstrate further that investigation and prosecution of proscribed terrorists and terror groups are being seriously pursued,” according to FATF chief Marcus Pleyer. Pakistan has been on the grey list since 2018.
At a news conference, Pleyer stated that Turkey must address “serious issues of supervision” in real estate and banking sectors and dealers of precious stones and gold. “Turkey needs to show it is effectively tackling complex money laundering cases and show it is pursuing terrorist financing prosecutions…and prioritising cases of UN-designated terrorist organisations such as ISIL and al Qaeda,” he added.
The FATF has assigned eight specific tasks to Turkey, including:
(i) dedicating more resources to the supervision of AML/CFT compliance by high-risk sectors and increasing on-site inspections;
(ii) applying “dissuasive sanctions” for breaches of AML/CFT, including unregistered money transfers;
(iii) enhancing use of financial intelligence to support money laundering investigations;
(iv) undertaking more complex money laundering investigations and prosecutions;
(v) fixing responsibilities and measurable performance objectives for anti-terror finance authorities;
(vi) conducting more financial investigations in terrorism cases;
(vii) concerning targeted financial sanctions under the UN’s anti-terror resolutions, and pursuing actions against UN-designated groups; and,
(viii) implementing a risk-based approach to supervision of non-profit organisations to prevent their abuse for terrorist financing.
Although Turkey, as an FATF member, has agreed to comply with the FATF requirements, the Turkish treasury believes that it has been unfairly put on the list.
“In the coming period, necessary measures will continue to be taken in cooperation with FATF and all relevant institutions, to ensure that our country is removed from this list, which it does not deserve, as soon as possible,” read Turkey’s official statement.
However, the FATF warned Turkey back in 2019 about “serious shortcomings,” and stressed the need for the country to improve its measures to freeze assets that were linked to terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “They need to make better use of financial intelligence to improve and increase the number of money laundering investigations which currently result in few convictions only. The country must also develop a national strategy to permanently deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes,” observed the FATF in 2019. “The Turkish banking sector has a good understanding of its potential exposure to transactions with links to crime, but less understanding of their exposure to terrorist financing,” they added.
Despite the warning given two years ago, Turkey has failed to stop terror financing done from its territories. FATF has placed Turkey on the grey list for failing to check terror financing. A place on the FATF’s grey list will prove to be a huge blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The country has a fragile economy and has recorded major losses against the US dollar, and the greylisting will only have a negative impact upon Turkey’s power to attract foreign investment.
mortimer says
Surprise, surprise. A jihad-spouting, kafir-hating president of Turkey who yearns for the good old days of Ottoman Empire, is a secret jihad-financier. I’m shocked … well, not that shocked.
This is the same character who slapped the Christian world in the face by reopening the Hagia Sophia museum as a mosque, in spite of international pleas not to do so. Muslims couldn’t care less what the dirty kufaar think. Allah doesn’t care what they think. Erdogan also worked with ISIS and bought and sold their oil and provided a porous border so jihadists could easily slip in and out of ISIS territory.
Much of the jihad funding goes through Islamic charities which send large parts of their collections to jihad-fighters.
born saturday says
turkey is not only financing terror but is behind all terrorist organisations such as isis al qaida all the terrorists in africa all the terrorists in syria and iraq in libya and many other places such as europe… turkey has been found to support, arm, give medical treatment and fund and do bussiness with isis from the beggining of the war in syria and iraq… turkish sultans son himself was found to be buying oil from isis controlled oil field from isis and reselling it… countless jihadists that joined isis from around the world flew to turkey and were funneled in to isis in syria from there…
turkey is the centre of every sunni jihadists operation organisation or militia around the world including terrorists in europe since it funds all the western mosques since 2010 and has the ultimate say on what sunnis do around the world…]
turkey for anyone who has researched is a terrorist state and erdogan or whoever rules this country is the head terrorist…
usa and europe do not want to condemn turkey as they believe there will be a drastic change in turkeys policies with the change in leadership of turkey… they are criminally wrong just as the obama admin who funded terrorists in syria were criminally wrong…
turkey will not change from a central terrorist state whichever is the new leadership of turkey and this can be determined by what the opposition in turkey barks about the turkish enemies long before they are government..
erdogan with his previous eu and usa friendly stance is the grand takiya that deceived the west into believing he is friendly at the start of his term near 2010 and in this way attracted endless investment and loans from western banks by which he now holds the west captive… bring turkey down and the western economy is hurt badly as the loans to turkey get lost and the investments in turkey are lost…
i watch what happens to turkey closely and i guarrantee you that nothing absolutely nothing will change the terrorist support financing arming recruiting and wars that turkey is on to with any leadership change whatsoever. even if the most unexpected party reaches the turkish government…. they all bark the same way with erdogan…
this is a global jihad that got wilder after september 11th and kept getting wilder and wilder and will get wilder even more with the retreat of usa from afganistan… it will not stop….
GreekEmpress says
+1
gravenimage says
Born Saturday, there is no doubt that Turkey is one of the major funders of Islamic terrorism–but they are scarcely the only ones. Jihad is a core part of Islam everywhere.
Infidel says
Is Pakistan still on the grey list, or have they finally managed to make it to the Blacklist?
gravenimage says
Global terror finance watchdog puts Turkey on the ‘grey list’ for terror financing
……………….
*Good*. This should have happened long since.
SAFI says
Turkey got “greylisted”? Damn has to be that “virus of islamophobia”, as a certain terror sponsoring dictator would say, that’s responsible.