Turkish authorities on Tuesday detained 209 people in early morning raids as part of a sweeping operation targeting 241 people ahead of a NATO summit next month, Turkish media reported.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said operations were carried out to “uncover activities and actions of terrorist organizations across the country, ” including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).
An alleged ISIL member who was wounded during a clash that broke out during the operations died from a loss of blood while attempting to escape from a hospital.
The detainees also included lawyers, academics, journalists and members of left-wing political and civil society organizations. Among them were Revolutionary Party leader Elif Torun Öneren, People’s Houses Association Executive Board member Hediye Yıldırım and journalist Yıldız Tar, according to local media.
Others detained included members of the People’s Houses Association, New Democrat Youth (YDG), the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD), the People’s Law Office (HHB) and the office workers union Umut-Sen.
Forty volunteers from the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion (TEMA), a nongovernmental organization promoting reforestation and the protection of natural habitats, were also taken into custody.
Authorities imposed a 24-hour restriction on access to lawyers for those detained.
The NATO summit is scheduled for July 7–8 in Ankara. The Ankara Governor’s Office separately banned all public gatherings, demonstrations, press statements, sit-ins and rallies across the city between June 28 and July 10, citing security measures related to the summit.
Opposition parties and rights organizations condemned the detentions, arguing that the measures amounted to a sweeping restriction of fundamental freedoms.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) condemned the security measures for imposing “broad and disproportionate” limits on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, adding that Ankara was being turned into a “large prison.”
Opposition lawmaker Sevda Karaca of the Labor Party (EMEP) said families and lawyers were unable to reach detainees, claiming the process had gone beyond detention and amounted to “enforced disappearance.”
The ÇHD said one of its three detained members was pushed down a staircase while in custody and that a lawyer who intervened was assaulted.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) also criticized what is described as the creation of a de facto, undeclared state of emergency in Ankara under the pretext of security due to the NATO summit, and the criminalization of social and political opposition.
The Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK) announced that it had filed a lawsuit at an administrative court seeking the annulment of the 13-day protest ban.
Protests were also held in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Adana by civil society organizations condemning the detentions and restrictions.
