Turkey has joined its friend Pakistan on the FATF Grey List. Erdoğan wins. Turkey loses. Turkey, which used to be an exception in the Muslim world due to its secular ethos and NATO membership is suddenly turning into a radical Islamist regime on the lines of the terrorist country of Pakistan.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a wannabe Khalifa and wants to emerge as the undisputed king of the Muslim world. This is why he is thrusting his brand of political Islam upon his country and Turkey is, therefore, getting converted into a hardcore Islamist regime that relies on jihadist mercenaries and religious militia groups. This is convening Ankara into a richer version of Islamabad and therefore Turkey has joined its friend Pakistan on the FATF Grey List.
Turkey lands on the FATF grey list
In the latest FATF meeting, Turkey has ended up on the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as it failed to combat money laundering and terror financing.
Notably, Turkey was put on notice by the global financial watchdog in a 2019 report. It stated that Turkey understood “the risks it faces from money laundering and terrorist financing”. However, it found “serious shortcomings in the country’s framework to combat these crimes”.
Turkey refused to crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing
Erdoğan however doesn’t pay much heed to Turkey’s bad reputation as a terror promoter. Even after being put on notice, the Turkish government didn’t take the danger of landing on the FATF grey list seriously. The Turkish government introduced controversial new legislation in December last year and described it as a response to the FATF recommendations.
The Turkish law was criticised by the opposition and the civil society as it used FATF recommendations for targeting Erdoğan’s critics instead of cracking down on terror financing.
Such ornamental measures have however failed to check the twin problems of money laundering and funnelling of funds to finance terrorism. Meanwhile, the FATF has revealed that its plenary discussions began on Tuesday and are currently underway but they were confidential.
Turkish economy set for a further plunge
Turkish economy used to be one of the better-performing ones in the Middle East region. However, Erdoğan’s Islamism has been destroying the Turkish economy relentlessly.
Erdoğan is a hardcore Islamist and he is going against every settled economic theory to bring the Turkish economy in line with Shariah principles. In Islamic tenets, ‘Riba’ or interest earned by depositing or lending money is considered unholy (haram). As per IMF’s definition, Shariah doesn’t allow payment or receipt of interest (riba). This is why interests rates offered by State-backed institutions in countries like Saudi Arabia are really low. Erdoğan wants to replicate the same model in Turkey without understanding its consequences.
Erdoğan opposes any move to hike interest rates even as Turkey faces very high inflation rates and a constantly depreciating currency, Lira. It is well-settled amongst economists that, interest rates must be raised to restrict inflation. But Erdoğan believes that higher interest rates further push inflation. The Turkish President keeps cutting interest rates at regular intervals and cracks down on rational economists in his government who advocate increasing interest rates.
However, the Turkish economy is set to face a further plunge. As per Financial Times, FATF greylisting would hit his regime’s ability to raise foreign investments for Turkey. International investments are already drying up due to the historic lows that Lira is facing against the US dollar, skyrocketing inflation and sheer uncertainty regarding Erdoğan’s economic policies.
Global investors are maintaining a safe distance from Turkey already. Total foreign investments in Turkish stocks and bonds stood at just $30.6 billion at the start of August. FDI too went down to $5.7 billion last year, as against the record $19 billion in 2017.
You can now forget that a secular, prosperous Turkey ever existed. Turkey is becoming the Middle East’s very own Pakistan that follows the most radical form of Islamism with a rapidly shrinking economy and sheer destitution.