Turkey turned into a money laundering hub
According to the Ministry’s data, the number of court cases opened under the offence of “laundering assets acquired from crime” reached 5,060 by the end of 2024.
Turkey has turned into a haven for money laundering criminals, with over 10,000 individuals facing criminal court proceedings for this offence in 2024 alone. Turkey was first placed on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during the AKP governments in 2010. Following measures taken in 2013, Turkey was removed from the grey list in 2014, only to suffer the same embarrassment again in 2019. FATF warned Turkey about “increasing the number of money laundering investigations and taking effective action against money laundering.”
Ignoring the warnings and opposition calls, the AKP failed to take necessary measures against “money laundering and terrorism financing” leading to Turkey being placed back on the grey list in October 2021. It took three years to be removed from the list, a move which was presented as a “success story.” However, data shared under the Ministry of Justice’s “crimes against the judiciary” category revealed the validity of criticisms that “Turkey has become a centre for money laundering.”
According to the Ministry’s data, the number of court cases opened under the offence of “laundering assets acquired from crime” reached 5,060 by the end of 2024. The total number of defendants in these cases was reported as 10,367, with the number of crimes recorded as 14,912. Of these, 3,991 cases were opened in 2024, while 1,069 were carried over from 2023. Only 992 of the accused were brought before a judge in 2024, and 184 individuals were convicted of money laundering.
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Karapara aklama cenneti, published in BirGün newspaper on April 16, 2025.
