Turkey arrests over 200 with alleged links to jihadists, outlawed far-left groups before NATO summit

ISTANBUL – The Turkish police on June 23 arrested more than 200 people with alleged ties to jihadists and outlawed far-left groups, ahead of a NATO summit that will be attended by leaders including US President Donald Trump.

Rights groups and local media said the detainees included a journalist, three lawyers, an academic and a union official.

Early on June 23, the Ankara prosecutor’s office said it had issued warrants for 241 people, with anti-terror police arresting 209 people in early-morning raids in the city.

Of those arrested, 185 are suspected of belonging to several far-left organisations, including the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which has staged attacks in the past and has been branded a terror group by Ankara.

The detainees also included Yildiz Tar, editor-in-chief of LGBTQ journal Kaos GL, the MLSA rights group said on social media platform X, while the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD) said two of its lawyers were detained in Ankara and a third in Istanbul.

Newspaper Gazete Oksijen said an academic from Ankara University’s economics department and a union official were also arrested.

Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced Tar’s arrest as “unacceptable” and demanded his release, saying the summit was no justification for his “arbitrary” detention on security grounds.

The authorities said the operations targeted multiple groups as part of broader security measures.

The Ankara governor’s office announced late on June 22 a ban on all demonstrations from June 28 until the end of the summit “to ensure summit security and maintain public order”.

The top-level summit takes place in the Turkish capital of Ankara on July 7 and July 8.

The summit is expected to bring together leaders from the 32 member states, including US President Donald Trump. AFP