ISTANBUL: Turkey’s main opposition has asked that a US-based charity with close ties to the ruling Justice and Development Party be investigated over donations, saying that tens of millions of dollars have come from public money.
The Turken Foundation was set up in 2014 to “provide safe, supportive, and culturally sensitive housing opportunities to Muslim students” in the US, according to its official website.
Its board includes several family members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his daughter Esra Albayrak who is the director, and he has previously attended the foundation’s annual dinners in the US.
The foundation has received donations of about $56 million since it was established, according to 2019 data from the US Internal Revenue Service.
The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said that $22 million came from the public purse including from the Turkish Red Crescent and the former ruling party-aligned administration of Istanbul’s metropolitan municipality, despite US law saying that foundations cannot receive money from abroad.
A parliamentary motion has been filed by the CHP to reveal the sources of the donations.
The source of some multimillion-dollar donations to the charity were revealed earlier this year to be from pro-government foundations, as financing for student accommodations in Manhattan.
“A total of $56.5 million was transferred to Turken Foundation between 2014 and 2018,” CHP deputy leader Tekin Bingol told parliament on April 14.
BACKGROUND
The Turken Foundation made headlines last year when it bought a farm property in the US state of Michigan belonging to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who passed away in 2016. The sale was reportedly made for $2.5 million.
“This is huge money. It is necessary to examine how and by who these transfers were channeled. Only in 2018, some $22.5 million was transferred from Turkey to this foundation. Of this $22.5 million, only $70,000 were donations. Then what is the rest of the big money?”
Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s new mayor who is from the CHP, said when he started his job that the municipality had been funding Turken from the start but that the donations had stopped.
The Turkish government has not responded to the CHP’s claims.
The foundation made headlines last year when it bought a farm property in the US state of Michigan belonging to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who passed away in 2016. The sale was reportedly made for $2.5 million.
The charity was established by two Turkish foundations — Ensar and Turgev — which are both closely affiliated to the government.
