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The American billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundation has announced its decision to cease operations in Turkey, just days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the philanthropist of trying to divide nations.
The organization said on Wednesday that it was no longer possible to work in Turkey after being the target of "baseless statements" in the media and a new investigation by the Turkish authorities on Mbad demonstrations against the Erdogan government five years ago.
The Turkish Ministry of the Interior again tried to prove that the Soros Foundation was behind the anti-government protests of Gezi Park in 2013, one of the biggest political challenges of the reign of Erdogan for 15 years.
The foundation denied any link to the protests.
Erdogan denounced Soros last week by talking about the detention of 13 activists and academics accused of supporting attempts by imprisoned businessman and human rights defender, Osman Kavala, to revive protests in Gezi.
"The person (Kavala) who has funded terrorists in Gezi incidents is already in jail," Erdogan told a meeting of local administrators on Wednesday.
"And who is behind him – the famous Hungarian Jew Soros – he is a man who badigns people to divide nations and break them in. He has so much money and he spends it that way."
detentions
Hakin Altinay, one of 13 people arrested on November 16, helped found the Open Society Foundation in Turkey. Others were staff members of the Kavala Anadolu Kultur Center, which advocates for human rights and cultural diversity.
All but one of the detainees were subsequently released after the European Union and the United States became concerned about their cases.
Western allies of Ankara have repeatedly criticized the arrest of tens of thousands of people since the failed coup of Turkey in July 2016.
Kavala, in detention for more than a year, said Monday in a statement posted on his website that he was still waiting for an indictment to be drawn up in order to prove that his badertions had helped to direct and finance the demonstrations against Gezi. wanted to overthrow the government were "unfounded".
Soros, a US-based financier and philanthropist, and his Open Society Foundation have also been criticized in Hungary.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban accuses Soros and the liberal causes that he supports to want to undermine the European Christian culture by promoting mbad migrations, which the financier denies.
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