FATF places Türkiye in enhanced follow-up after mutual evaluation

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its mutual evaluation report on Türkiye on 23 September and placed the country in enhanced follow-up, according to the report page. Assessors rated Türkiye's effectiveness as substantial on three of the 11 immediate outcomes and moderate on the other eight. None was rated high or low. Of the 40 Recommendations, the page's ratings tally to 15 compliant, 23 largely compliant and two partially compliant, with none non-compliant.

The two partial ratings are for Recommendation 7, on targeted financial sanctions related to proliferation, and Recommendation 8, on non-profit organisations, as FATF lists them. The report measures Türkiye's regime as at the end of the on-site visit on 28 November 2025, according to the same page.

What the assessors found

FATF said Türkiye has strengthened its defences against illicit finance, including by improving its use of financial intelligence. The report states that "Domestic co-operation is strong in Türkiye with frequent and positive interaction" among authorities. The three outcomes rated substantial are IO.1 (risks, resources and co-ordination), IO.2 (international co-operation) and IO.6 (financial intelligence), according to the report's key findings.

The main weaknesses sit in prosecutions and asset recovery. The report says "Türkiye should further prioritise money laundering investigations and prosecutions", and it describes challenges where assets are located abroad as "a major shortcoming". It also notes a backlog in pending prosecutions (7 248 cases) and convictions (6 085). The report points to drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal betting as examples of high-risk predicate offences where money laundering cases should be prioritised.

Recommended actions and follow-up

Türkiye received a roadmap of key recommended actions to complete within three years, according to the report page. The three actions are:

• improve reporting entities' understanding of terrorist financing risks and the mitigating measures;
• prioritise money laundering investigations and prosecutions for high-risk predicate offences such as drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal betting;
• improve the identification, investigation, prosecution and conviction of terrorist financing linked to the full range of threats in Türkiye's risk profile.

The page states that "Based on Effectiveness and Technical Compliance Ratings, Türkiye is placed in enhanced follow-up." FATF's general description of its process says that all countries are subject to post-assessment monitoring, which can range from regular reporting of improvements to a public warning for a country that makes insufficient progress on key deficiencies. Enhanced follow-up is a separate status from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, commonly called the grey list. FATF confirmed on 28 June 2024 that Türkiye was "no longer subject to the FATF's increased monitoring process", and Türkiye does not appear on the list published on 19 June 2026.

Timing and scope

The FATF plenary adopted the report during its 17 to 19 June 2026 meeting, and said the reports would be published in September and October 2026 after a Global Network quality and consistency review. At the same plenary, FATF added Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iraq to its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring and removed Algeria and Namibia. Because the assessment closed on 28 November 2025, it does not cover later enforcement developments involving Turkish banks.

Two of those fall inside the gap. A US federal court dismissed the criminal case against state-owned Halkbank in June, after a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors that Halkbank said involved no admission of wrongdoing and no judicial or administrative fine, according to NTV. On 4 September the US Treasury designated Istanbul-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and two affiliates under its Iran authority, as the OFAC notice records. The FATF report does not discuss either matter.

The recommended actions listed on the report page do not mention asset tracing abroad. They concern the understanding of terrorist financing risk, money laundering prosecutions and terrorist financing prosecutions, and progress on them will be tracked through the enhanced follow-up process, as the report page sets out.