I am against terror but its financing should be free

METİN MÜNİR

FATF, which stands for Financial Action Task Force, is an international body used to prevent banks from being used for the financing of terror and money laundering.

As a country which has suffered substantially from terrorism, Turkey is one of the most loyal members of the institution.

Is that statement true or false?

False.

Turkey’s association with FATF is about to be disconnected because it has not taken the measures it has committed to combat the financing of terror. Nice, isn’t it? The country is shattering under terror. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is claimed to be involved in drug smuggling to finance its actions. The Middle East is a region where the number of terror organizations is the highest per square kilometer. But the government is insistent in not taking legal measures against seizing money belonging to terror organizations and used in the financing of terrorism.

Who will explain this?

The FATF was founded in 1989 led by the United States. Turkey was among the first 36 members. It is leading the ones which do not do their homework since day one.

The FATF president knocked on our door last May. He spoke with cabinet ministers, deputies and bureaucrats. Everybody nodded sympathetically and told him that what needs to be done was going to be done.

But they did nothing.

The institution declared that unless there was a positive development in four months, our membership was to be suspended.

Here is what they wanted from Turkey: 1) To enact laws “in an effective manner” that enable categorizing the financing of terror as a crime. 2) The adequate legal application of determining and freezing the assets of terrorists.

Anybody with a sane mind might think that we would have done these things long ago, before FATF asked it from us. But they would be very wrong.

A banker closely monitoring the situation said, “If Iran does not comply, I can understand it. But you are leading the countries that have been hurt by terrorism the most. Why don’t you do it?”

Another banker has this evaluation: “Right now, our country’s membership at the Anti-Money Laundering Committee has been suspended. Unless the demanded legal arrangements are done by February, Turkey will be expelled from the committee. A draft is at the Parliamentary Justice Committee, and as can easily be imagined, is a draft seriously emasculated. Also in the past, this draft had been made caduceus three times. There is also the possibility of it being made caduceus this year. If Turkey is expelled from the committee, it will be subject to treatment similar to Iran and North Korea. Embargoes could be imposed on money and capital flows and even on trade. Bank loans will be stopped and current loans will become due. The bureaucrats show incredible reactions. Our capital classes, on the other hand, primarily banks, continue with their carelessness. They are not aware of the seriousness of the matter.”

Caduceus is the automatic losing of the validity of a motion because it was not processed in time.
I would not have wanted to write this but I need to: Some sources claim that because other black money which flows into the banking system from other sources will also be affected, taking legal measures against the financing of terror was being blocked.

Organizations such as the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB), Turkish Industry and Business Association and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), what are they doing? How does the head of the Justice Committee explain the emasculation of the draft and it being made caduceus numerous times?

What is happening?