Erdogan continues fierce campaign to punish NGOs at UN
The Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey continues its vicious campaign to punish non-governmental organizations at the United Nations, as confirmed by the eleventh meeting of the first session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive International Convention against the Use of Information and Communication Technologies for Criminal Purposes.
The Turkish authorities continue their ferocious crackdown on NGOs critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a series of relentless cases, the latest of which was a prominent Geneva-based NGO fighting transnational organized crime.
Communication to the United Nations
According to the Nordic Monitor, in a letter to the United Nations Office at Vienna, the Turkish Government requested the United Nations to prevent the Global Initiative against Organized Crime through Citizenship, also known as the Global Initiative, from attending United Nations proceedings.
Ankara alleged that the NGO, which consisted of a network of law enforcement, governance and development personnel, was linked to a terrorist group, without providing any evidence to support that claim. The organization was initially established with funding and operational support from the Governments of Norway and Switzerland.
The move comes as part of a systematic stereotype campaign by the Erdogan government to crack down on international NGOs involved in actions that may be critical of Turkey’s policies. “Turkey has in the past barred foreign NGOs from participating in UN events, citing similar allegations and false accusations that have drawn criticism from countries hosting NGOs in their territories.”
Closure of a thousand organizations
Turkey’s pursuit of foreign NGOs also comes after the Erdogan government shut down more than 1,000 NGOs in Turkey in 2016 and 2017, again on trumped-up charges related to terrorism.
According to the letter submitted on December 20, 2021, by Ambassador Ahmet Mokhtar Çon, Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Vienna, I alleged that the Global Initiative was supporting the Gülen movement, which is critical of the Turkish government on a range of issues from corruption to Turkey’s assistance and abetting of armed jihadist groups.
Organizations exposing Erdogan corruption
The movement has been subjected to a crackdown in Turkey following corruption investigations in December 2013 that criminalized Erdogan, his family, business associates and politicians. Despite overwhelming evidence of the crime, Erdogan has denied allegations of corruption, fired prosecutors and police chiefs involved, and halted corruption investigations.
Erdogan claimed that the investigation was a coup against his government and accused the movement of orchestrating the investigation, a claim denied by the movement. In recent years, many media outlets, NGOs, and individuals critical of Erdogan’s government have been targeted for rampant corruption, many of whom have faced criminal investigations and malicious trials on spurious terrorism charges.
Fabricating charges of terrorism
Turkey follows the same rules of the game to fabricate terrorism charges to discredit foreign NGOs, misuse international mechanisms to suppress criticism, intimidate those who dare speak out against Turkey’s policies, and silence critical voices on global platforms. The Turkish mission’s move against the Global Initiative was aimed at punishing the NGO by denying it participation in an upcoming UN event entitled Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive International Convention against the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Crime.
Charges without evidence
The Erdogan government accused the ICG Economic Commission without providing evidence linking these NGOs in any way to remove their consultative status with the United Nations. None of the NGOs was given an opportunity to defend themselves against them or to present their case to the Committee.
GYV moved its operations out of Turkey and registered as an NGO in the United States after an unprecedented crackdown on NGOs in Turkey.
