The Turkish Connection

Turkey needs investment badly in the wake of the financial crisis and is not asking too many questions about the provenance of funds; as much as 40% of the population is unbanked; and the country is the main corridor for heroin into Europe, a trade controlled by PKK terrorists. The combined threats weigh heavily on Turkey’s ambitions to join the European Union as Paul Cochrane reports from Beirut.

Turkey’s bid to become part of the European Union (EU) has resulted in tougher banking and financial regulations, in addition to a strengthened financial intelligence unit (FIU) at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. But while the country has ramped up its counter-terrorist financing initiatives to thwart funding to Kurdish separatist groups such as the PKK, Turkey’s position as a crossroads between the East and West has meant significant challenges to rein in the surge in narcotics trafficking and organised crime.