MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Turkish government annulled the registration of Mercy Corps, a US-based non-governmental organization, which then had to halt operations in the country, according to the organization's statement.
"The Turkish government has revoked Mercy Corps’ registration that allows us to operate in Turkey, forcing us to shut down our operations in Turkey, effective immediately," the organization said on Tuesday.
The NGO said it had been working with the Turkish government for five years and had been carrying out a humanitarian operation to help Syria from Turkey since 2012 and was planning to continue its operations in Syria.
"We continue to seek a dialogue with Turkish authorities in an effort to obtain permission to resume our operations in Turkey as soon as possible," the organization said in a statement.
Mercy Corps said it would concentrate on curbing the effect of this new development on its operations in Syria and expressed hope that Ankara would let it return.
Turkey's decision to end Mercy Corps ops seems technical rather than political. A Turkish official said they failed to file some paperwork
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) 8 марта 2017 г.
Turkey de-registers @mercycorps operations over YPG-related spat w/ US. One of most important providers of food aid (esp bread) in N Syria.
— Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) 7 марта 2017 г.
The nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime was introduced on December 30, 2016. Terrorist organizations are not part of the ceasefire.
