Turkey ends contracts of 3 foreign charities

ANKARA

Three foreign charities operating in southeast Turkey have been closed for undisclosed reasons, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said Wednesday.

He said the charities that had been shut down had worked in Diyarbakir province.

“The focus of all on Diyarbakir means something to all of us,” he said during an interview with Anadolu Agency's Editors’ Desk in Ankara.

“Hatay, Gaziantep and Diyarbakir are all within the scope of activity. There is not that much interest in Kilis, which has one-and-a-half times as many refugees than its [original] population.”

Kaynak said it was understandable that NGOs targeting refugees would want to work in the border provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep but said Diyarbakir has “the least number of immigrants in Turkey”.

“It's strange that everyone has turned their eyes there and asked for permission to operate there,” he added.

Kaynak did not identify the three charitable foundations, say which field they worked in or give a timeframe in which their contracts were terminated.

Tension with EU

However, his comments came after weeks of tension between Ankara and EU states, especially Germany.

Berlin has angered the government by refusing to allow ministers to campaign for a Yes vote in the referendum to switch to a presidential system.

It has also accused Germany and other EU nations of harboring PKK terrorists and the supporters of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) -- group said to have orchestrated last July’s attempted coup.

Since the coup attempt, a number of Turkish NGOs have been closed over alleged links to the PKK, FETO or Daesh. In March, the government revoked the registration of U.S. charity Mercy Corps, which had provided aid to Syrians since 2012.

“Our Interior Ministry terminated the activities of three foundations,” Kaynak said, adding that the decisions had led to representations by the UN deputy secretary general, the U.S. ambassador and EU officials.

He went on to list certain restrictions on NGOs operating in Turkey, including restrictions on employing foreigners, money transfers and employing “wanted people and criminals”.

“At this moment, the Interior Ministry is doing an investigation on all foundations,” Kaynak said. “We are also doing an investigation. We don’t want these [foundations] to carry out activities to disrupt Turkey's national unity under the pretext of foundation activities.

“Let’s not allow missionary activities, let’s not provide an opportunity for everybody to impose their ideology, their own views… Let’s switch to a system that coordinates, regulates and distributes aid in the field.”

Reporting by Burcu Calik;Writing by Sibel Ugurlu