Turkey closes five foreign NGOs operating in country

ANKARA (AA) - Five foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Turkey have been closed for their illegal activities.

According to the information compiled by an Anadolu Agency correspondent, the five NGOs based in the United States, England and Italy were shut down due to their unauthorized foreign employment, missionary activities and money transfers.

The organizations include Italian-based Coordination of the Organizations for Voluntary Service (COVS), the United Kingdom-based International NGO Safety Organization (INSO), the U.S. based Business Software Alliance Incorporation (BSA), the U.S. based Turkish Coalition of America and the U.S. based Mercy Corps.

The enquiries were carried out against the foreign-based NGOs since January and the activities of the five organizations were stopped on January 15.

The five NGOs worked on issues concerning refugees.

Turkey now hosts some 3 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. The country has spent around $25 billion helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.