Mercy Corps NGO building
© M.O. Stevens
The Mercy Corps NGO says is has been working with the Turkish government for five years and has been carrying out a humanitarian operation in Syria since 2012.

The Turkish government annulled the registration of Mercy Corps, a US-based non-governmental organization, which then had to halt operations in the country, according to the organization's statement.

"The Turkish government has revoked Mercy Corps' registration that allows us to operate in Turkey, forcing us to shut down our operations in Turkey, effective immediately," the organization said on Tuesday.

The NGO said it had been working with the Turkish government for five years and had been carrying out a humanitarian operation to help Syria from Turkey since 2012 and was planning to continue its operations in Syria.

"We continue to seek a dialogue with Turkish authorities in an effort to obtain permission to resume our operations in Turkey as soon as possible," the organization said in a statement.

Mercy Corps said it would concentrate on curbing the effect of this new development on its operations in Syria and expressed hope that Ankara would let it return.

The civil war in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front and Daesh, outlawed in Russia. The nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime was introduced on December 30, 2016. Terrorist organizations are not part of the ceasefire.