After years of inaction and with just days to spare, Turkey has finally passed a law on terror financing that has been the subject of bitter criticism at home and ever more urgent demands abroad.
Whether the measure will satisfy anyone, however, has still to be seen.
The measure has been long demanded by the Financial Action Task Force, a 36 member international body that has done much to increase the financial isolation of Iran and North Korea.
For years, FATF has called for Turkey to comply with its membership commitments by introducing rules that allow suspected terrorist assets to be frozen before a court ruling. FATF has already put Ankara on a grey list, together with states such as Cuba and Yemen, as a jurisdiction with strategic money laundering or terror financing deficiencies.
Late last year, it determined that Ankara would be suspended from the organisation, effective on February 22, if it had not taken action by that date. No country has ever previously been suspended from FATF and in recent weeks Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been apprised of the urgency of the issue and the legislation has been rushed through.
But the issue is sensitive in the extreme in Turkey. The opposition is all too aware of the country’s broad-brush definition of terrorism, under which thousands of people are imprsioned, and is unwilling to back any extra powers to the government to freeze the assets of suspects. Some Islamist groups, notably the IHH charity, which was involved in the 2010 attempt to break the Gaza blockade, say that humanitarian aid to the Palestinians could be affected.
Other commentators highlight Turkey’s strong ties with Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU, but whose leader, Khaled Meshal was feted as a hero at the ruling AK party’s Congress last September.
In the light of such issues, the Turkish legislation that has just been passed gives officials in Ankara a big say on whether to accede to international calls to freeze suspected terror assets; the Turkish government can apply a filter on FATF requests.
The US, perhaps FATF’s biggest champion, is so far unimpressed.
This is US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, speaking this week, when the legislation had passed through parliament’s Justice Commission but had not yet been finally approved:
In 2005, FATF, working with Turkey, which is a member of FATF, found that Turkish law did not define terrorism at a standard that meets international standards. In Turkey, most definitions of terrorism focus on attacks against the Turkish state and the definitions are less clear when it comes to international terrorism. FATF experts came here last year, last spring, reviewed the draft legislation at that time, and pointed out serious deficiencies that need to be remedied in your law if it is Turkey’s desire – as I know it is – to meet international standards.
I have not seen the current draft. I do not know its status. But my understanding is that it is pretty much the same draft that FATF experts – in fact the FATF President – reviewed last May, I think it was – and FATF at that time found the draft inadequate. I hope through your current legislative process, you will confer further with FATF experts and bring it up to FATF standards so that Turkey will be not only a full member of FATF, as it is now, but also off the grey list. That is important because Turkey wishes to become a financial centre. The US wants Turkey to become a leading economy and financial centre. We support your ambition to have a first-class, transparent financial system, and one of the really important seals of approval that is necessary is the FATF seal of approval.
The Turkish legislation is now a presidential signature away from becoming law. FATF is meeting in Paris on February 20-22: which, not coincidentally is the time set aside for Turkey’s suspension. Will the organisation declare itself satisfied? Much could depend on its decision.
via Turkey’s last-minute terror laws: will they be enough? | beyondbrics.
