NATO summit in Turkey, journalists and opposition activists caught in the grip of arrests

On 7 and 8 July, Turkey will host the 36th NATO summit, and as always happens during these important events, the entire Turkish capital is subjected to extremely strict security measures. The Ankara Governorship has announced a total ban on all gatherings, demonstrations, distribution of leaflets, graduation parties, and weddings throughout the province, effective from 28 June to 10 July 2026. Several roads have been closed to traffic. To avoid delays at work, part of the public staff has been granted administrative leave for the duration of the event. 

The Turkish Journalists' Association and other media solidarity groups have reported that journalists belonging to editorial offices considered opposition — including Halk TV, Sozcu TV, the newspaper Cumhuriyet, the news site T24, and the ANKA news agency — have been excluded from covering the summit.

In the two weeks leading up to the summit, anti-NATO protests have taken place in various cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. Over 200 people, including lawyers, academics, civil society representatives, and students publicly opposing the increase in military budgets and NATO's expansion policies have been arrested by the Turkish authorities. 

On 5 July, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) faced over 100 detentions during the protest march in Kizilay central square in Ankara. Meanwhile, in Istanbul, also during the TKP protests, despite a heavy police presence, there were no clashes and hundreds of people marched from Taksim Square in Istanbul to Dolmabahce. Other protests were organised in the Kadikoy district. 

Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Turkish Democratic Party, thus criticised the detentions on X «The country has been completely transformed into a detention centre using the NATO summit as an excuse. We are living through days of undeclared martial law».

The president of the Istanbul branch of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (CHD) has been arrested and her apartment searched. The director of the online newspaper T24, Buse Sotuglu, and Ceren Erdogdu, a journalist for Oda TV, have both been arrested at their homes. No reasons have been provided for their detentions. The state news agency Anadolu reported that the police arrested 39 more people across the country, including journalists from independent outlets and activists suspected of being linked to the banned leftist youth organisation THKP/C (Turkish People's Liberation Front) and DEV YOL (Revolutionary Way). These acronyms represent radical movements opposing US and NATO imperialism.

Even those coming from other countries to reach Turkey to participate in the anti-imperialist Peace Summit in Istanbul scheduled for 4 July faced severe attacks on their personal, physical, and legal freedoms. The executive director of the International Peace Bureau, Sean Conner, along with other activists from Linksjugend (Youth of the Left in Germany), an activist from the Työväen antimilitaristit (anti-militarists of the Labour of Finland), and an unspecified Italian activist, were blocked upon arrival at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. Their passports

and mobile phones were confiscated, they were interrogated without legal representation, fingerprinted, and were told that they were being reported by the German authorities. They were expelled the following day, placed on a flight that took them back to their country of origin. Their passports were returned only after arriving at the airport.

A NATO member since 1952, Turkey has the second largest army in the alliance after the United States, a rapidly growing defence industry, and a strategic position at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus. This is the second NATO summit it is hosting, the first time was in 2004.