Türkiye passed most of the Financial Action Task Force’s latest anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing checks, but the global watchdog has still placed the country under enhanced follow-up after identifying major enforcement weaknesses.

In its 2026 mutual evaluation, FATF found Türkiye compliant or largely compliant with 38 of its 40 recommendations. The remaining two were rated partially compliant. Even with those strong technical scores, FATF gave Ankara three years to address problems centered on prosecution delays, courtroom outcomes, corporate liability, and asset recovery.

High marks on paper, continued monitoring in practice

The review means Türkiye avoided a return to the FATF gray list, but it did not receive a clean exit from closer scrutiny. Instead, FATF placed the country under enhanced follow-up, a status used when a jurisdiction has made progress yet still needs to correct material shortcomings within a set timetable.

According to the evaluation, the core issue is not the breadth of Türkiye’s formal rulebook alone but how effectively the system produces enforcement results. FATF said the country now has a three-year window to close the gaps highlighted in the report.

Prosecution backlog and weak case conversion remain key concerns

The main red flag in the assessment is a large backlog in money-laundering prosecutions. The shortfall cited by FATF is tied to thousands of pending financial crime cases and a weak conversion of investigations into courtroom verdicts.

The watchdog said Türkiye needs to improve the path from investigation to prosecution and then to conviction. In practical terms, FATF is looking for stronger court outcomes rather than investigative activity alone, with higher conviction rates forming part of the expected progress over the follow-up period.

Corporate liability and cross-border asset recovery also flagged

FATF also pointed to structural legal obstacles, including the lack of criminal liability for companies in many cases. That limitation was identified as one of the reasons Türkiye did not achieve full marks across all recommendations.

Another area requiring work is the tracing and recovery of criminal assets held abroad. The report said Türkiye needs measures that strengthen its ability to identify, pursue, and recover those assets across borders as part of a more effective anti-money-laundering framework.

Crypto oversight is part of the remaining agenda

The remaining FATF action plan is not limited to traditional finance. The follow-up process also covers further improvements to Türkiye’s anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework for virtual asset service providers.

That means regulatory oversight of crypto-related businesses will remain part of the country’s review over the next three years. FATF’s findings do not indicate a gray-list return at this stage, but they do leave Türkiye under continued international monitoring until the outstanding weaknesses are addressed.

Source: Cryptopolitan