Türkiye: Authorities must lift blanket protest ban ahead of NATO Summit and release scores of arbitrarily detained people
Reacting to the start on Sunday of a 13-day blanket ban on protests in Ankara, and the imprisonment in pretrial detention of more than 100 people including lawyers, academics and activists ahead of the 36th NATO summit in Türkiye, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director Research for Europe, said:
“The blanket ban on all protests in Ankara must be lifted and everyone arbitrarily detained in prison or under house arrest in connection with the NATO summit must be released. This ban is an excessive and unjustifiable attack on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. Authorities must enable and protect the right to protest and end the use of vague and overly broad national security concerns to detain people without evidence of wrongdoing.”
This ban is an excessive and unjustifiable attack on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression
Esther Major, Amnesty International
“Pretrial detention is an exceptional measure which cannot be deployed to prevent people from exercising their protected rights, such as freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. All the excessively broad and disproportionate restrictions that prevent the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly must be lifted.
“In addition, NATO’s decision to deny accreditation to some journalists and media outlets from Türkiye is a blow to media freedom. We call on NATO to reverse its stance and enable those who have been excluded to cover the event.”
Authorities must end the use of vague and overly broad national security concerns to detain people without evidence of wrongdoing
Esther Major, Amnesty International
Background
On 22 June, the Ankara Governorate announced a province-wide ban on all public assemblies from 00:00 on 28 June until 23:59 on 10 July 2026 (13 days), citing “national security” and security measures around the NATO summit.
It also cited the need to prevent unauthorized persons and vehicles from entering areas designated as “sensitive”, including the Summit venue, locations where delegations will be accommodated, and transit routes used by delegations.
According to a statement issued by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on 25 June 2026, of the 225 people detained during operations launched in dawn raids on 23 June, 135 were referred to court with requests for pretrial detention. Of these, 103 were remanded, while 26 were placed under judicial control measures, including house arrest.
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