SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 19 April 2024, Friday |

Turkey freezes assets of 770 people, including a Chicago-based foundation

According to a judgment published in the country’s official gazette on Friday, Turkey froze the assets of 770 Turkish people and a Chicago-based nonprofit.

The list comprises 454 persons with claimed ties to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who resides in the United States. Gulen and his network are accused by the Turkish government of being behind a violent coup attempt in 2016. Gulen has refuted the charge.

Gulen is the honorary president of the Chicago charity, whose assets in Turkey have been blocked. The Alliance for Shared Values, the Niagara Foundation’s parent organization, is a non-profit affiliated with the Gulen movement, which Turkey has labeled as a terrorist organization.

According to the list, 119 additional persons had their assets seized due to ties to the ISIS terrorist organisation, al-Qaeda, the al-Nusra Front, and other accused “terror groups that exploit religion.”

Another 108 persons were targeted for suspected ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey and the US have labeled as a terrorist organization.

The judgment also named 89 persons with apparent ties to leftist organisations labeled as terrorist organizations.

Turkey’s interior, treasury, and finance ministries all signed the resolution.

    Source:
  • Associated Press