Turkey freezes assets of 20 organisations over links with Kurdish militants

Citing purported links to the Kurdish militant group PKK, Turkey froze the local assets of 20 organizations and 62 individuals based in Australia, Japan, and other European nations, according to a decision published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday. The decision, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance, was “based on the existence of reasonable grounds” that they had committed acts that were covered by the legislation prohibiting the financing of terrorism. Three organizations from Germany and three more from Switzerland—two nations with sizable Kurdish diasporas—were on the list. Additionally, it listed two organizations from Italy, Japan, and Australia. Additional organizations impacted were located in Iraq and Syria, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom. A spokesperson for Insamlingsstiftelsen Kurdiska Roda Solen, the one organisation on the list in Sweden, said the group is a humanitarian aid organisation with no operations and no assets in Turkey. Sweden as well as Finland requested to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan raised objections to both requests, citing the Nordic nations’ protection of those whom Turkey deems terrorists, as well as their defence trade embargoes. Turkey endorsed Finland’s bid in April. From Sweden, it has demanded further steps to control local members of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which the European Union and the United States consider a terrorist group. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told NATO counterparts on Tuesday he was working hard on Sweden’s NATO ratification, which the Turkish parliament is debating. He provided a likely timeline of before year-end for the Nordic country to formally join the alliance, a senior State Department official said. (with inputs from agencies)