Over 200 detained in Ankara raids ahead of NATO summit
Police detained more than 200 people in early morning raids in Ankara ahead of the 36th NATO summit scheduled for Jul 7-8.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said the operation targeted suspected members of armed groups, including ISIS and various Marxist groups such as DHKP/C, TKP/ML, THKP/C, and MLKP. However, members of labor unions, lawyers' associations and socialist youth groups were also among the detained.
The detainees were suspected members of ISIS and Marxist armed groups, such as DHKP/C, TKP/ML, THKP/C, and MLKP, according to a statement from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Additionally, lawyers' groups, labor unions and environmental groups were targeted.
Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of the LGBTI+ website Kaos GL, was among those taken into custody.
A 24-hour restriction on lawyer consultations was imposed on those detained, ANKA news agency reported.
Reactions
Journalism organizations condemned the detention of Tar, noting that the operation occurred just one day before a scheduled court hearing in an existing case against the journalist.
The Press Workers' Union (DİSK Basın-İş) said, "We will not allow the political power to silence the social opposition, intimidate journalists and rights defenders with detentions. Our colleague Yıldız Tar, and everyone else detained, must be released immediately."
Erol Önderoğlu, the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called the detention unacceptable. "The fact that it is an international summit does not justify the detention of our colleague for security reasons. They must be released," he said.
The Contemporary Journalists' Association (ÇGD) and the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) Ankara Branch also condemned the detention.
The Contemporary Lawyers' Association stated that its members, lawyers Semra Demir and Kürşat Bafra in Ankara, and Doğa İncesu in İstanbul, were detained alongside many other citizens in dawn raids. "What is happening is not a legal process, but an operation to provide a rose garden without thorns to NATO before the summit," the association said.
The labor group Umut-Sen demanded the immediate release of those detained. "Many people, including our spokesperson Burcu Arıkan, were detained in house raids during the NATO operations organized in Ankara this morning. We will continue to stand against NATO and its imperialist collaborators," it said.
The Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) claimed the operations were an attempt to intimidate those opposing NATO: "We know the reason for this attack. They want to silence those who oppose NATO, which promises nothing but death, destruction, and war to peoples. They are trying to intimidate with pressure and detentions so that not a single voice rises against their masters, and they can welcome and host the killers of peoples on red carpets comfortably," the federation stated. The group added that the operations would not stop the anti-NATO movement.(NÖ/HA/VK)