Alwaght- Huge crowds took to the streets in Turkey to condemn their government’s crackdown on NGOs as part of post-coup cleansing.
The demonstrators in Istanbul protested suspension of 370 non-governmental groups including human rights and children’s organizations, as part of its post-coup crackdown.
Hundreds of people gathered in main streets of the city as Erdogan government declared a suspension of activities for the large number of NGOs accusing them of links to the Kurdish PKK or the US-based Fetullah Gulen who is accused by Ankara of leading the failed coup attempt in mid-July.
Meanwhile the government defended the move by saying the suspended groups have been active in promoting terrorist activities.
“The organizations are not shut down, they are being suspended. There is strong evidence that they are linked to terrorist organizations,” said Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Saturday.
According to the country’s Interior Ministry, 153 of the NGOs had ties to the US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. Ankara says some 190 of them had ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), eight to the ISIS, and 19 to the banned Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front.
The July 15 coup in Turkey began when a faction of the military declared it was in control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge.
The government in Ankara has launched a sweeping crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the failed coup. It has arrested over 35,000 people and sacked over 100,000 others over their suspected links with Gulen, who has rejected the accusation.
