The Greek Current

Global terror finance watchdog places Turkey on "grey list"

Episode Summary

Toby Dershowitz and Aykan Erdemir join The Greek Current to discuss the decision by FATF to place Turkey on its "grey list", look at Turkey’s history with the money laundering and terror financing watchdog, and demonstrate how this designation shows yet again that NATO member Turkey continues to offer a permissive jurisdiction for terror finance, sanctions evasion, and money laundering under President Erdogan’s rule.

Episode Notes

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Paris-based global money laundering and terror financing watchdog, added Turkey to its “grey list” last week, placing it under increased monitoring. This is not the first time Turkey was placed on the “grey list”, and in 2019 the FATF warned that unless Ankara improves its “serious shortcomings,” Turkey risked being added to the grey list once again. Toby Dershowitz and Aykan Erdemir join The Greek Current to explain why this is a significant step by the FATF, look at Turkey’s history with the money laundering and terror financing watchdog, and demonstrate how this designation shows yet again that NATO member Turkey continues to offer a permissive jurisdiction for terror finance, sanctions evasion, and money laundering under President Erdogan’s rule. 

Toby Dershowitz is the Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Strategy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Dr. Aykan Erdemir is the senior director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Turkish lawmaker.

Read the latest piece by Toby Dershowitz and Aykan Erdemir in The National Interest: Turkey Returns to Financial Action Task Force ‘Grey List’

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here: 

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