Amnesty International (AI) Turkey funding blocked

Via rasti via hevallo (who judged AI's human rights report on Turkey the real reason) via World Bulletin, I found Ayşegül Aybar's report on the 19th of June 2007 in Today's Zaman, "accounts of Amnesty International Turkey frozen":

The Interior Ministry has suspended all bank accounts registered to the Turkish office of Amnesty International (AI) on the grounds that the organization accepted donations without official permission, sources said on Monday.

Online donations to AI Turkey have also been suspended, blocking monthly payments made by its members.

Levent Korkut, the head of AI Turkey, commenting on the Interior Ministry’s decision said the problem was related to the freedom of organizing. He said the AI considered it unacceptable that such charity and donation activity is subject to permission. Korkut claimed that this was an attempt to block civil society organizations from raising funds. Korkut said they had applied to court, and they were ready to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights once all domestic judicial paths are exhausted. "This is a situation that seriously hurts the freedom of organizing," he said.