Facing Attack, George Soros’s Foundation Will Shut Down in Turkey

Open Society Foundations, the philanthropic group founded by George Soros, announced Monday that it would stop its operations in Turkey, where the organization and its founder have been assailed by an increasingly authoritarian government.

The organization, which promotes justice and human rights in more than 100 countries, said that it would close its office in Istanbul after it became the target of “baseless” accusations that made it impossible to work in the country.

“We are deeply dismayed and disappointed that the foundation had to close,” an Open Society spokeswoman, Laura Silber, said on Monday. But, she said, “it became completely untenable.”

The announcement came days after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denounced Mr. Soros in a speech, Reuters reported. Mr. Erdogan accused Mr. Kavala, one of Turkey’s most prominent businessmen and civil society activists, of financing terrorists during the Gezi protests and accused Mr. Soros of supporting him.

“And who is behind him?” Mr. Erdogan said, according to the report. “The famous Hungarian Jew Soros. This is a man who assigns people to divide nations and shatter them. He has so much money and he spends it this way.”