More trouble for neo-sultanic Turkey
She wins choice spot on the list of rogue states practicing money laundering and terrorist financing
It’s a badly kept secret that Erdoganist fundamentalist Turkey practices international money laundering and Islamist terrorist financing. The Turkish government has provided ISIS, the Islamist terror group in Syria and Iraq, with weapons, logistical support, financial assistance, and medical services.
As late as May 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated persons and businesses operating out to Turkey of playing “a crucial role connecting ISIS with a network of international donors and enabled ISIS to access the financial system in the Middle East.”
Turkey’s neo-sultan routinely puts his shoulder to the wheel of fundamentalist Islam and maintains close relationships with the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian terrorists, who enjoy Turkey’s welcome at their leisure.
Erdogan misses no opportunity to hail Islamist terrorists as “freedom fighters of the Faith” and launch tirades against Israel; in 2018, the neo-sultan called for an “army of Islam” to attack and defeat Israel “militarily in 10 days and diplomatically in 20 days, thereby liberating ‘Palestine’.”
Erdoganist Turkey: a true massive thorn on the side of the West—which continues to dillydally and postpone treating her as the true and present threat to Western security and global stability.
Erdogan Becoming a Liability for Turkey
Last month Turkey made it into the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog
Last month Turkey made it into the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog headquartered in Paris. Turkey now joins its close ally Pakistan in FATF’s crosshairs. Surprisingly Turkey becomes the largest economy to be included in this list. The FATF listing for Ankara comes on the back of a shaking economy being jolted by the Covid-19 pandemic. And also when Turkey’s geopolitical stature being weakened further by pursuing a ‘punch-above-the-weight’ foreign policy. Where President Erdogan wishes to expand Turkish economic, political, and military influence into the former regions of the Ottoman empire.
Erdogan’s dream of reviving the Ottoman caliphate stems from an idealistic outlook on the splendor of the Ottoman Empire and its extensive capability to influence the political dynamics of two continents i.e. Europe and Asia. Therefore, he wishes to restore the former Ottoman Empire’s hegemony, to achieve greater political influence not just in today’s Turkish state but also in the countries and territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and Europe. To achieve this over-ambitious dream Turkish president is undertaking huge geopolitical risks. As a result of going ahead with this neo-ottoman approach. Turkey has alienated the USA, France, other European powers, and major Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt. Hence now Turks are more or less isolated, without many friends.