By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Türkiye Fund Probe / Capital Markets
The investigation into Türkiye's investment-fund sector widened on September 27 with arrest warrants for Tera Yatırım CEO Emir Münir Sarpyener and Tera Portföy Chairman Erdin Özel. Both had previously been placed under international travel restrictions. Prosecutors are examining financial records and money movements linked to several investment and holding companies.
Assets belonging to 46 legal entities, 18 funds and 42 individuals had been frozen in the investigation, according to Justice Minister Akın Gürlek on September 26. He said the review covered fund outflows between July 1 and September 16. The Capital Markets Board had separately filed criminal complaints over transactions in Özata Denizcilik shares involving 11 people, including Özel and Sarpyener.
The case has now moved beyond individual market transactions into the financial structures and management of investment companies. The earlier asset-freeze measures involving 46 companies and 18 funds provide the background to the latest warrants.
Cyprus / UN Process
Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman met UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York on September 26 after the proposed meeting involving Erhürman, Guterres and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides failed to take place.
Erhürman rejected the Greek Cypriot account that he had simply refused a trilateral meeting, saying the issue was whether such a meeting had been sufficiently prepared to produce substantive progress. He also said the Turkish Cypriot side had accepted proposals on six of the seven confidence-building measures raised by Guterres, with crossings remaining among the unresolved issues.
The UN process is continuing through separate contacts. Erhürman's position follows his earlier argument that another 2+1 or 5+1 meeting should be tied to progress on confidence-building measures, methodology and substantive issues, as set out in his earlier account of the Guterres process.
Mecca Pact
Foreign ministers Hakan Fidan, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar met in New York on September 25 under the Mecca Pact.
The ministers reviewed preparations for the pact's General Secretariat, committees and working groups and discussed an urgent meeting of the three countries' chiefs of staff. The pact provides that an attack on one party is to be considered an attack on all parties. They also addressed navigation security, sovereignty, international law and regional de-escalation.
The three countries established the Strategic Political and Defence Committee in Istanbul in August. The New York meeting focused on the structures and procedures needed to put the pact into operation.
Türkiye-Israel / Information & Security
Türkiye imposed a new access restriction on 93 X accounts in a separate case concerning accounts that authorities said were involved in Israel-related propaganda, threats to national security and systematic disinformation. The measure was announced on September 26.
The action is separate from earlier restrictions involving speculative or allegedly manipulative capital-market posts. The 93-account case concerns Israel-related content, while the capital-market restrictions formed part of a different enforcement track.
The restrictions come amid a wider dispute between Türkiye and Israel over the regional conflict, including Ankara's public criticism of Israeli military actions and scrutiny of Israel-related information activity inside Türkiye.
S-400 / F-35 / Türkiye-Russia-US
The S-400 and F-35 dispute remains unresolved. Türkiye retains its Russian-origin air-defense system while its participation in the US-led F-35 program remains suspended.
Black Sea / Maritime Security
Türkiye's proposal for a memorandum with Russia and Ukraine on the safety of commercial shipping remains the main Ankara initiative in the Black Sea maritime file. No new Russian or Ukrainian acceptance of the proposal has emerged since the previous brief.
Türkiye has also raised the ISPS security level to 3 for Turkish-flagged ships visiting Russian and Ukrainian Black Sea ports and Azov Sea ports, as well as for vessels sailing off those ports. Russia, meanwhile, has been adapting Baltic and Arctic terminals for grain exports as disruption affects established Black Sea routes.
Ankara is seeking a formal arrangement for commercial shipping while Turkish authorities are tightening measures for vessels using Russian and Ukrainian ports, following the recent shipping initiative involving Moscow and Kyiv.
Eastern Mediterranean Energy
Cyprus and Israel are preparing another round of technical negotiations over the Aphrodite-Ishai cross-border gas reservoir in the first half of October. Cyprus Energy Minister Michael Damianos said the two sides aim to conclude an agreement before the end of October.
The talks concern a reservoir extending across the maritime boundary between Cyprus' Aphrodite field and Israel's Ishai field. Aphrodite is operated by Chevron.
The October timetable puts the Aphrodite-Ishai negotiations on a defined schedule after months of discussion.
FATF / Türkiye
Türkiye remains in the Financial Action Task Force's enhanced follow-up process stemming from its 2019 mutual evaluation. FATF's country record says Türkiye now has only one Recommendation, Recommendation 15, rated partially compliant, with no Recommendations rated non-compliant.
The FATF plenary in June adopted Türkiye's new mutual evaluation under the fifth round. Türkiye is not on the June 2026 list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, commonly referred to as the grey list.
The latest Türkiye FATF assessment sets out the findings behind the current status.
Energy & Investment
Türkiye's nuclear-energy planning gained a new US-linked component this week after the U.S. Trade and Development Agency signed an agreement with Türkiye Nükleer Enerji Anonim Şirketi to support the regulatory, institutional and financial roadmap for small modular reactor deployment.
The program will support the steps needed to establish a framework for private-sector SMR investment. The study follows the earlier assessment of US small modular reactor companies and designs for Türkiye.
The World Bank separately approved a $750 million financing package for Türkiye's Agrifood Sector Transformation for Rural Jobs and Growth project. The program is designed to expand finance for farmers, agrifood companies and producer organizations and mobilize additional private capital, building on the World Bank-backed agrifood transformation program.
Life / Orient Express
The Venice Simplon Orient Express is scheduled to arrive in Istanbul on September 30 on its Paris-Istanbul-Paris route through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
The train will enter Türkiye at 08:00 and reach Bakırköy Gar at 17:40, remaining in Istanbul for two nights before departing on October 2. The Istanbul arrival schedule puts the departure from Bakırköy at 12:00 on October 2, with the train scheduled to leave Türkiye through Kapıkule at 22:05.
Bosphorus Read
The fund investigation has reached senior investment-company executives. The Mecca Pact is moving into its institutional and military mechanisms. In the Black Sea, Ankara is pursuing a shipping arrangement as Turkish authorities tighten precautions for commercial vessels. Cyprus remains caught over the preparation and sequencing of the next political meeting.
Erhürman met Guterres, but the proposed three-way meeting did not take place. The UN process is continuing through separate contacts, with the two sides still divided over the conditions for the next enlarged format.
Elsewhere, the latest developments concern the application of decisions already taken: arrests and asset freezes in the financial investigation, working structures under the Mecca Pact, maritime security measures in the Black Sea and technical negotiations over Eastern Mediterranean gas.
Sources: Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FATF, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, World Bank, Türkiye Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Anadolu Agency, Reuters, Cyprus Mail, Cyprus News Agency, Bosphorus News review and reporting.
Read Yesterday's brief: Turkey Fund Probe, Makkah Pact, Cyprus & Black Sea | September 26.