A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered the release of four members of the Human Rights Association (İHD) who had been held in pretrial detention for more than three months after being arrested in a mass security operation ahead of NATO’s July summit in Ankara.
Tuğba Kahraman, Hale Nur Çetin, Mert Ahmet Aldemir and Şevin Özden were released following their first hearings at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court, the İHD announced on X.
The four are standing trial on charges of membership in an armed illegal organization. They were among six İHD members who remained in prison following mass detentions carried out in Ankara on June 23, less than two weeks before NATO leaders met in the Turkish capital on July 7 and 8.
Two other detained İHD members, Emirhan Gedik and Zehra Camcı, remain in prison and are due to appear before the Ankara 2nd High Criminal Court on October 2.
The İHD had called for the six to be released, saying the indictments relied on their participation in peaceful meetings, demonstrations and human rights activities rather than evidence of criminal conduct.
According to the association, prosecutors alleged that the activists could carry out attacks intended to have Turkey associated with terrorism.
The İHD described the allegation as speculative and said the indictments failed to identify acts showing that the defendants had committed or encouraged violence or acted within the hierarchy of an illegal organization.
Kahraman works for the İHD and serves on the board of its Ankara branch, while Çetin, Aldemir, Özden, Gedik and Camcı are members of the branch’s youth commission.
Mass arrests before NATO summit
The six were among 16 İHD members detained during a large-scale operation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on June 23.
Authorities detained 225 people in the main Ankara operation. Courts subsequently ordered the pretrial detention of 178, while 34 others were put under house arrest. Those targeted included human rights defenders, lawyers, academics, journalists, environmental volunteers and labor activists.
Fourteen of the 16 İHD members detained in the operation were initially jailed pending trial. Eight were later released, leaving Kahraman, Çetin, Aldemir, Özden, Gedik and Camcı in prison until Tuesday’s ruling.
The Ankara Governor’s Office also imposed a 13-day ban on demonstrations, marches, press statements and other public gatherings around the NATO summit. Amnesty International called the restrictions an unjustified interference with freedom of peaceful assembly and expression and urged the authorities to release people arbitrarily detained in connection with the summit.
Human Rights Watch also accused Turkish authorities of misusing terrorism laws to suppress dissent ahead of the summit, while the government said the security measures were necessary to protect public order and visiting delegations.
The crackdown extended beyond the initial Ankara operation. A later review by a lawyers’ group said at least 668 people had been detained across Turkey in raids and protests surrounding the summit.
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), EuroMed Rights and a number of other rights groups had called for the six İHD members’ immediate release ahead of this week’s hearings, saying peaceful human rights work and participation in demonstrations should not be treated as evidence of membership in an illegal organization.
The cases against the four released on Tuesday will continue while they remain free. Gedik and Camcı are scheduled to have their first hearings on Friday.
