ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek will speak at the Financial Action Task Force meeting in Singapore, Turkish state media said on Thursday, ahead of a decision by the international crime watchdog on whether to remove Turkey from a “grey list”.
Removing Turkey from this “grey list” of countries and territories that require increased scrutiny would be a boost to the country’s economic turnaround plan, after the FATF task force downgraded Turkey’s status in 2021 over concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing.
Turkish officials have said that they expect Turkey to be removed from the grey list, having said that any other decision would be politically motivated.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency on Thursday cited Treasury sources as saying that Simsek planned to attend the FATF meeting and make a speech, as well as hold talks with investors and Singapore’s prime minister and president during the two-day visit.
A Turkish Treasury source had previously told Reuters that Simsek would attend the FATF meeting.
Ankara brought in many regulations including a crypto asset bill in line with the FATF’s request, and there’s no reason for the task force to keep Turkey in the “grey list,” Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Thursday.
“In recent months, a technical delegation from the FATF visited Turkey, we know that their report about Turkey’s (progress) was positive. So technically, there’s no problem for Turkey,” Yilmaz said in an interview with private CNN Turk television.
“We expect a positive outcome. We deem any other decision as politically motivated.”
In a statement in February, the FATF said that Turkey “has substantially completed its action plan” and warranted an on-site assessment.
A delegation from the FATF visited Turkey last month to evaluate Turkey’s actions to prevent money laundering and illegal financing.
(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Writing by Daren Butler;Editing by Miral Fahmy and Susan Fenton)
