Government supporters wave Turkish flags in front of an electronic billboard displaying the face of President Erdogan in Ankara Getty

Amnesty International responded quickly to the news today that 375 NGOs would be closed under Turkey’s state of emergency powers,  with Amnesty’s John Dalhuisen calling it”part of an ongoing and systematic attempt by the Turkish authorities to permanently silence all critical voices.”

Dalhuisen went on to say:

The closures include lawyers’ associations working on torture, women’s rights organizations running shelters for survivors of domestic violence, local humanitarian organizations providing aid to refugees and internally displaced persons, and Turkey’s leading children’s rights NGO.

Civil society organizations must be allowed to continue their crucial work without fear of punishment or reprisals. The work of NGOs like these is especially vital during the ongoing human rights crisis in Turkey, where flagrant misuse of emergency powers has cast a dark shadow over an already ravaged civil society.

John Dalhuisen, Director of the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office