Journalists, activists arrested as Turkey ramps up security ahead of NATO summit 

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - ANKARA– Dozens of activists and journalists were arrested in Turkey on Sunday, their media outlets said, the latest in a wave of detentions ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara next week due to be attended by leaders including US President Donald Trump.

Turkish authorities detained more than 100 ‌people taking part in an anti-NATO protest march organized by the Communist Party of Turkiye (TKP) on Sunday.

Turkey will host leaders from the 32 allied countries, as well as officials from NATO’s partners, in Ankara for a summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Authorities began throwing a security blanket over across the Turkish capital in anticipation of the two-day summit, banning demonstrations and barricading large parts of the city. Major roads were closed and police stationed in side streets.

Trump is on good terms with Turkey’s veteran President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and NATO members are hoping to court him in Ankara as concerns linger about Washington’s commitment to the alliance, underscored by fears Russia could launch new attacks in Europe in coming years.

But human rights groups have complained of a shrinking space for dissent in Turkey in recent weeks.

On Sunday, Buse Sogutlu, international news editor at online newspaper T24, and Ceren Erdogdu, journalist at OdaTV, were both detained for unspecified reasons, their media outlets said.

Sogutlu’s lawer Erman Ozturk said, “we believe it is linked to the NATO summit.”

Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders, condemned “indiscriminate, arbitrary, and chaotic operations launched ahead of the NATO summit (that) clearly threaten the reputation and safety of journalists.”

Daily newspaper Cumhuriyet reported that “dozens of people were arrested” on Sunday, without giving a reason.

Ezgi Onalan, head of the Istanbul branch of the Association of Contemporary Lawyers, was also detained, the rights group announced on X.

In a statement, the TKP said it had organized ‌the protest march ‌in Ankara’s central Kizilay square, adding ​that ‌more ⁠than 100 party ​members, ⁠including administrators, had been detained.

Footage showed flag-waving protesters chanting slogans including “Murderer NATO, get out of country” and “No passage to NATO,” as riot police intervened using tear gas to disperse crowds.

In a separate protest organized by the TKP, hundreds of people marched from Istanbul’s Taksim Square to Dolmabahce. There were also two separate protests organized by leftist groups in ⁠the Kadikoy district. Despite a heavy police presence, ‌there were no scuffles during the protests ‌in Istanbul.

“We have gathered today in ​many parts of Turkey to ‌protest against NATO,” TKP Secretary General Kemal Okutan said in Istanbul.

“We said ‌that we would not hand over Ankara to supporters of NATO, that we would not allow Ankara to remain silent. We have fulfilled that promise.”

Separately, 39 ⁠others, including journalists from independent outlets, activists, and academics, were detained in anti-terror raids across the country, media reported on Sunday.

Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party, and main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) court-appointed chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu criticized the detentions as unacceptable measures hindering basic rights ahead of the NATO summit.

“The country has been fully turned into a detention center by using the NATO summit as an excuse,” Bakirhan said on X. “We are living through days of undeclared martial law.”

Last month, Human Rights Watch denounced Turkey’s arrest of some 200 people ahead of the summit, saying it showed a “ruthless intolerance” of freedom of speech and assembly.

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, condemned the crackdown on X.

“It is not the existence of protests that damages a country’s reputation, but rather the suppression of the right to demonstrate democratically,” he wrote, addressing Erdogan directly.