Turkey passes ‘dangerous’ law that could further stifle scrutiny of government

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a ceremony to mark the modern Turkey's founder Ataturk's death anniversary, in Ankara

Credit: Reuters

Turkey passed a "dangerous" law on Sunday that human rights groups fear could allow the authorities to stifle their freedoms if their work is disliked by the government.

The law will hobble NGOs by allowing the interior ministry to suspend and replace group members who are being investigated under terrorism charges, block online donations and enforce lengthy annual inspections that will reduce their capacity to operate.

Since a failed coup attempt in 2016, hundreds of thousands of investigations into terrorism charges have been launched in Turkey as the government cracks down on dissent.  

“Given that thousands of civil society activists, journalists, politicians, members of professional organisations are investigated within the scope of (anti-terrorism law), there is no doubt that this law will target almost all opponent associations,” a group of civil society organisations, including Amnesty International, said in a joint statement.

The Law on Preventing Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction was introduced to comply with a UN security council resolution, though critics say the bill far exceeds the mandate of combatting the financing of terrorism. Instead, they say, it will allow NGOs and other rights groups to be targeted for lawful work.

According to Human Rights Watch, only six of the 43 articles in the bill include the means and regulations to combat the financing of terrorism.

“The Turkish government’s new law on curbing financing of terrorism, with the new powers it grants the Interior Ministry, conceals within it another purpose: that is to curtail and restrict the legitimate activities of any nongovernmental group it doesn’t like,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.  

“This law will become a dangerous tool to limit freedom of association, and the provisions relating to nongovernmental organisations should be withdrawn immediately.”  

The law gives the interior ministry the power to replace members of organisations who are being investigated for terrorism charges, and suspend the entire board or halt the organisation’s activities until a final ruling has been issued. Turkey’s counter-terrorism laws are “vague” and “widely misused”, Human Rights Watch claimed.  

Local governors and the interior ministry will also be able to block online donations under a measure to prevent terrorism financing and money laundering.  

Severe fines of up to 200,000 lira (£19,000) can be levied if the online donations are considered to be unlawful, which the group of organisations said will “in practice lead to the closure of many associations”.