Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has come under an increased amount of pressure since resigning from the nation’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last year to establish his own political movement.

On Jan. 21, Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations took control of the Foundation for Sciences and Arts (BISAV), which Davutoglu co-founded in 1986 to support and bolster the nation’s conservative intellectual community.

"This arbitrary attitude is a grave step that could inflict great harm on our hundreds of years of foundation history and it is also a dangerous action that could affect not only the Foundation for Sciences and Arts, but all foundations in our country as well," read the Jan. 21 statement of Mustafa Ozel, a founding chair of the BISAV board of regents.

In response, the General Directorate of Foundations defended its appointment of three officials to oversee the management of BISAV, stating on its website: “This is not a trustee appointment. This action is to protect the legal character of the Foundation for Sciences and Arts, its tangible assets and establishment objectives.”