If you are a compliance officer, at an international bank in the EU or North America, seeking to vet a prosperous Turkish businessman at account opening, you have a difficult job. Turkish officials are making it extremely difficult to obtain truthful and accurate information on their nationals.
Here's what's happening lately, and why you should be concerned:
(1) The country's major opposition newspaper, upon which many relied upon, has been taken over by government, and is no longer to be trusted for accurate information.
(2) Two Turkish journalists have been unjustly imprisoned; these are just the latest in governmental targeting of the press.
(3) the country's leader flat out stated that he will not obey the country's supreme court. If the rule of law is to be cast aside, then no investigative journalist will dare publish articles about corruption, narcotics trafficking, terrorist financing, trade with ISIS, trade with sanctioned countries, and crimes committed by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
We have previously alerted our readers to the issues involved with Turkey, but now the pace of governmental interference with what is left of the free press has accelerated, and one can no longer be assured that any negative news will make publication. Therefore, raise Country Risk on Turkey, to a higher level.
Turkey is heading on the path towards destruction.
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