Minister says Turkey lost $1 trillion fighting terrorism

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey has lost some $350 billion directly and $1 trillion indirectly over the last 30-40 years fighting terrorism and its spillover effects, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said Friday, Dec 26, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

“It is not easy to calculate how much terrorism costs Turkey, which has lost around $350 billion over the past 30-40 years fighting terrorism, according to several experts. We can say terrorism has cost Turkey around $1 trillion overall,” he said at the Symposium of Detection and Analysis of Financial, Economic and Social Impacts of Organized Crime.

The eastern and southeastern regions of the country couldn’t attract direct investment, despite fertile agricultural soil and a young population, because of the terrorism threat, he said.

“Terrorism and other unlawful actions, such as drug trafficking, fuel each other. Organized money laundering is the greatest problem here. The fight against these evils must be multilateral,” he said.

Şimşek said that “thanks to its efforts, Turkey was removed in November from the ‘grey list’ of countries drawn up by the 36-member Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a money-laundering watchdog.”

The Financial Crime Investigation Board (MASAK) signed cooperation deals with 43 countries to combat money laundering and is also a member of the EGMONT Group, which helps facilitate the exchange of information, he added.