Turkish authorities have accused an activist of membership in a terrorist organization over a banner and her remarks at an anti-poverty protest during a NATO summit in Ankara in July, the Sendika.Org news website reported.
Leylanur Mavili, a member of the left-wing People’s Houses Association, was detained on Monday in an investigation in which a banner she hung and remarks she made were cited as evidence. The banner read, “You cannot cover up the poverty you created,” while in her remarks she criticized government policies she linked to poverty and environmental destruction as well as alleged violence by the state.
A video of Mavili hanging the banner and making remarks in front of it was later shared on social media.
Mavili went to a prosecutor’s office in Ankara on Monday to give a statement but was transferred to the central province of Yozgat, where the investigation had been launched. Upon arrival, she was detained on accusations of membership in a terrorist organization. After four days in custody, she was questioned by a prosecutor who referred her to a criminal magistrate of peace with a request for her arrest. The court released her under judicial supervision.
The banner was hung on one of a series of panels erected along the protocol route from Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport ahead of the July 7-8 summit. The panels, which blocked some homes from view, had sparked criticism from the People’s Houses Association and others who said they were intended to conceal poverty from visiting NATO delegates.
Turkish authorities imposed sweeping security measures before and during the NATO summit, including a 13-day ban on demonstrations and other public gatherings across Ankara, road closures and the deployment of some 40,000 security personnel.
At least 668 people, including journalists and lawyers, were detained in raids and protests around the summit, while rights groups criticized the measures as disproportionate restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Mavili had previously faced detention and other sanctions over her participation in protests. As a student at Ankara University in December 2019, she was detained for taking part in a Las Tesis performance protesting violence against women and was subsequently expelled from her state-run student dormitory.
In February 2021 she was detained again while attempting to join a protest against a government proposal to establish women-only universities and later stood trial with seven other women for allegedly violating Turkey’s law on demonstrations. At a hearing in 2024, Mavili alleged that police had threatened and physically assaulted her in custody.
