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DE RUEHIT #0556 1791522
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281522Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7212
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA PRIORITY 2319

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000556 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SE AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV TU
SUBJECT: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SUES LOCAL GOVERNMENT OVER 
FROZEN BANK ACCOUNT 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Amnesty International's (AI) Turkey branch 
filed civil cases against two local government authorities, 
the Beyoglu District Governor's office and  the Istanbul 
Governor's office, for failing to respond to queries related 
to the January seizure of 75,000 YTL (approx 57,000 dollars) 
held in AI's local bank account.  AI officials told us that 
they still have not been officially notified of the 
justification for the decision to freeze the accounts. 
Although Turkish law stipulates that all organizations must 
receive permission from the local authorities to conduct 
fundraising, AI claims this requirement is not uniformly 
applied.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The Director of the Amnesty International (AI) 
Turkey office told us that they were not given prior 
notification of a January decision by the Istanbul Governor's 
office to freeze the organization's bank accounts.  Their 
bank was reluctant to provide them with details on the freeze 
order, beyond indicating that the basic charge was 
"unauthorized fund raising."  AI applied to the governor's 
office to learn the justification for the decision, but 
according to AI received no response, despite a legal 
requirement for a response to be given within 60 days of the 
application.  In mid-May AI filed suit in a local 
administrative court requesting a stop-action decision as 
well as compensation for their loss. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Immediately following their application to the 
court, AI was fined for "unauthorized fund raising" by the 
Beyoglu District Governor's office.  According to AI, the 
official document they were given by the district governor's 
office indicated they had 15 days to appeal the fine and 
directed them to apply to the Court of First Instance. 
However, the AI lawyer informed them that the appeal period 
was only 7 days and that they must apply to a different 
administrative court.  AI applied to both courts within the 7 
day window.  The Court of First Instance refused to hear the 
case.  The case remains open at the administrative court.  AI 
officials refused to speculate whether the incorrect 
instructions were intentional, but indicated that the action 
was not a sign of "good will." 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  AI officials told us that they received 
authorization to function in 2002 and had not experienced any 
problems with local government since that time.  The Turkish 
Law on Fund Raising requires official authorization for fund 
raising by any organization that is not already listed by the 
Ministry of Interior as "an organization working for the 
public good."  Membership fees and donations to associations 
do not fit the definition of fund raising. 
 
¶5. (SBU) AI officials speculate that complaints they filed 
against police harassment and detention of AI members 
involved in a street campaign may have prompted the freezing 
of the bank accounts as well as the fine.  They claim that 
the fund-raising activities they engaged in are common and 
that they have been singled out for harassment by the 
authorities.  They further argue that only 1,200 YTL (less 
than USD 1,000) of the 75,000 YTL (approx USD 57,000) in 
their accounts was raised by the methods in question - online 
credit card payments and direct donations on the street - and 
that "it is unfair that they seized all 75,000." 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  We have no way of knowing what caused the 
governor's office to issue the freeze order for AI's account 
and no way to substantiate AI's claim that their complaints 
about police mistreatment prompted retaliation by the 
governor's office.  However, in Turkey governors and deputy 
governors are Ministry of Interior appointees not elected 
officials.  Similarly police officers are central government 
(Ministry of Interior) employees not local or city employees. 
 We will continue to monitor this case.  End Comment. 
JONES