Turkey

The US Treasury blacklisted Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and two affiliates on 4 September, accusing them of moving IRGC money and giving Iran a route into dollar banking, with counterparties given until 19 September to wind down existing business.

Golden Global denied the allegations within hours, and by 8 September had shut three of its funds to new subscriptions, a day after telling Turkey's disclosure platform its funds were legally separate from the sanctioned parent. US ambassador Tom Barrack said the listings target the three named firms, not Turkey's banking system as a whole, an assurance aimed at Turkish banks generally rather than adding a new fact to the case.

Hungary's legal challenge against the EU's Russian gas ban, filed at the CJEU on 2 February, turns on supply that only reaches Budapest because Turkey controls the TurkStream crossing. The EU's pipeline ban took effect on 17 June, yet Hungary's MVM kept receiving 3.5bcm a year through TurkStream under a long-term contract exempt until at least September 2027.

State firm BOTAS blends Russian, Azerbaijani and Iranian gas and sells it Onward as Turkish-origin at the Kipi crossing into Greece, a practice EU rules do not require it to disprove. That blending keeps Ankara, not Brussels, holding the practical leverage over how much Russian gas Europe still receives.

President Erdogan has held a both-sides posture throughout the Iran war, condemning both American and Iranian strikes while offering Istanbul as a Mediation venue. On 11 May, Turkey, Egypt and the Netherlands each made separate diplomatic moves on the conflict within a single day, part of a cluster of overlapping Mediation and monitoring efforts that has run since.

That same instinct shaped Ankara's role in the TurkStream protection framework weeks earlier, where it joined a joint arrangement rather than picking a side between Moscow and the EU. The pattern is consistent: Turkey positions itself as indispensable convenor precisely by refusing to commit to either CAMP in the region's overlapping conflicts.