Turkey detains environmentalists, journalists in security crackdown ahead of NATO summit
Turkey has detained 103 people, including environmental activists in their seventies and an LGBTQ+ magazine editor, and banned public gatherings in Ankara ahead of the July 7-8 NATO summit, drawing accusations that the government is using the event as a pretext to silence civil society.
Security lockdown and mass detentions
Turkey is deploying a 70,000-strong security force, nearly triple the number used at last year's The Hague summit, to turn Ankara into a fortress for the July 7-8 NATO leaders' gathering. Civil servants have been given the week off to ease congestion, and 40,000 police have been sent to the capital. All public assemblies, press conferences, exams and poster displays have been banned for 12 days starting Sunday.
On June 23-24, anti-terror police detained 225 people, including academics, teachers, lawyers and trade unionists. A court ordered 103 of them into pretrial detention on June 26, charging them with "membership in a terrorist organisation". Another 26 were placed under house arrest and 32 were released.
- Protest held in Ankara against the upcoming NATO summit.
- Turkish police detain 225 people, including academics, activists and lawyers, in anti-terror raids.
- An Ankara court orders 103 people into pretrial detention; 26 are placed under house arrest.
- NATO leaders' summit begins in Ankara.
- NATO summit concludes.
Targets of the crackdown
Among those jailed are Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ magazine Kaos GL, and 42 environmental activists from the TEMA Foundation, aged between 50 and 80. TEMA volunteers were asked during interrogation whether they had received weapons training or belonged to the banned communist party TKP/ML. "Some elderly detainees needed help climbing flights of stairs for their interrogations," the Financial Times reported.
Also detained were academic Emel Memiş of Ankara University, union spokesperson Burcu Arıkan, and lawyers Semra Demir and Kürşat Bafra of the Progressive Lawyers Association. Prosecutors argued that the suspects "could commit terrorist acts in an attempt to paint Turkey as a country associated with terrorism". Fifty-six of those targeted are suspected of links to Islamic State and 35 to the leftist DHKP-C group.
Media blackout
Dozens of independent Turkish journalists have been denied accreditation to cover the summit, including outlets critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan such as Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, Halk TV, T24 and Medyascope. NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said the host country decides on access but added that media presence at such events is "of key importance". The International Press Institute and 14 other organisations wrote to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte urging a review of the accreditation decisions.
"Each refusal should be clearly justified and transparent," said Uraz Kaspar of the International Press Institute. Journalist Işın Eliçin, barred from the summit, said the lack of transparency limits public access to reliable information about NATO's actions.
International concern and domestic defiance
Human Rights Watch accused Turkey of misusing anti-terror laws to silence people ahead of the summit.
The misuse of anti-terror laws to silence people ahead of the NATO summit contradicts the alliance's founding values.
Government officials rejected the criticism. Veysal Tipioğlu, head of parliament's security and intelligence committee, said terms like "martial law" and "state of emergency" were inaccurate and that Turkey's measures were no different from those taken by other countries.
Summit ambitions
The summit, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called one of the most important in NATO history, is expected to see Rutte lead efforts to keep President Donald Trump committed to the alliance by pledging extra defence spending. Turkey wants to use the event to showcase its diplomatic clout, its military (NATO's second-largest army) and its growing defence industry.
