Türkiye Freezes Assets of 82 Organizations, People for Alleged PKK Ties

A woman holds a flag of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) during a demonstration against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in central Brussels, Belgium, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman/ File Photo
A woman holds a flag of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) during a demonstration against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in central Brussels, Belgium, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman/ File Photo
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Türkiye Freezes Assets of 82 Organizations, People for Alleged PKK Ties

A woman holds a flag of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) during a demonstration against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in central Brussels, Belgium, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman/ File Photo
A woman holds a flag of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) during a demonstration against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in central Brussels, Belgium, November 17, 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman/ File Photo

Türkiye froze the local assets of 20 organizations and 62 people based in Australia, Japan and various European countries, citing alleged ties with Kurdish group PKK, a decision published in the Official Gazette showed on Wednesday.
Türkiye’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance said the decision was "based on the existence of reasonable grounds" that they committed acts falling within the scope of the law on preventing the financing of terrorism.
The list included three organizations from Germany and another three from Switzerland, both countries that are home to a large Kurdish diaspora. It also named two organizations each from Australia, Italy and Japan.
Other affected organizations were in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and Iraq-Syria.
A spokesperson for Insamlingsstiftelsen Kurdiska Roda Solen, the one organization on the list in Sweden, said the group is a humanitarian aid organization with no operations and no assets in Türkiye.
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 Türkiye deems terrorists, as well as their defense trade embargoes. Türkiye 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.



Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Grossi Wants to Meet with Iran’s Pezeshkian ‘at Earliest Convenience’

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi speaks to the media at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, US, March 15, 2023. (Reuters)

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced he intends to visit Tehran through a letter he addressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iranian Mehr Agency reported that Grossi sent a congratulatory message to the Iranian president-elect, which stated: “I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your election win as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at the focal attention of the international circles for many years. I am confident that, together, we will be able to make decisive progress on this crucial matter.”

“To that effect, I wish to express my readiness to travel to Iran to meet with you at the earliest convenience,” Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Grossi as saying.

The meeting – should it take place - will be the first for Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to be open to the West to resolve outstanding issues through dialogue.

Last week, American and Israeli officials told the Axios news site that Washington sent a secret warning to Tehran last month regarding its fears of Iranian research and development activities that might be used to produce nuclear weapons.

In May, Grossi expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of the talks he held over two days in Iran in an effort to resolve outstanding matters.

Since the death of the former Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, the IAEA chief refrained from raising the Iranian nuclear file, while European sources said that Tehran had asked to “freeze discussions” until the internal situation was arranged and a new president was elected.