Turkish authorities launched a series of coordinated dawn raids across multiple provinces ahead of the NATO summit scheduled for July 7–8 in Ankara, detaining lawyers, journalists, writers, students, political activists and members of civil society organizations in what critics describe as an expanding crackdown on dissent.
According to Kurdish news outlet Nûmedya24, the operations were carried out in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, Kocaeli, Izmir, Çanakkale, Bursa and several other provinces, targeting individuals allegedly linked to anti-NATO activities or opposition groups.
Among those detained was lawyer Ezgi Önalan, the Istanbul branch chair of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD). The association said police raided her home before dawn and detained her while simultaneously arresting several of her clients. ÇHD accused the government of conducting politically motivated operations intended to create a "thorn-free rose garden" ahead of the NATO summit.
Lawyer Yunus Emre Işık was also reported detained in Istanbul.
In Ankara, law students Boran Işıldak and Burhan Can were taken into custody in the Tuzluçayır neighborhood. ÇHD said the two students were detained because of their anti-NATO activities and called for their immediate release.
Writers Sibel Özbudun and Temel Demirer were also among those detained. Özbudun announced the arrests herself in a post on X, saying the pair were being transferred to Muğla.
Authorities also reportedly detained five members of the Free University Movement while they were traveling from Izmir to Ankara after identity checks. In Kocaeli, members of the Labour Party (EMEP) and its youth organization were detained during home raids. EMEP Deputy Chair Arzu Erkan alleged that police, accompanied by counterterrorism and special operations units, forced entry into homes and assaulted detainees during the arrests.
In Antalya, at least 35 people were reportedly detained, including members of the Halkevleri association, officials from the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), Labour Youth activists and members of the Kaldıraç movement.
The media was also affected by the operation. Buse Söğütlü, foreign news editor at T24, was detained during a raid on her family's home. Her lawyer said authorities imposed a 24-hour restriction on lawyer access and that the legal grounds for her detention had not yet been disclosed.
Separately, Ceren Erdoğdu, an editor at Odatv, was also detained. The news outlet noted that she had recently reported on a petition campaign opposing NATO ahead of the summit.
Additional detentions were reported in Şanlıurfa, where members of EMEP, the Socialist Workers' Party (SEP) and TİP were taken into custody.
The co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party strongly criticized the operations, accusing the government of using the upcoming NATO summit as a pretext to suppress dissent.
Co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan said Turkey was experiencing what he described as an "undeclared state of emergency," arguing that the country had been turned into "one large detention center" under the pretext of NATO security. He also condemned court-ordered access restrictions imposed on several news outlets, including Nûmedya24, Azadiya Welat, Ajansa Welat and Sendika.org.
"The government is spending its energy on detaining academics, artists, journalists and opposition figures instead of addressing the country's economic crisis, injustice, the collapse of agriculture and the growing uncertainty facing young people," Bakırhan wrote on X. "This is not strength; it is weakness."
He called on the authorities to "take your hands off academics, artists, journalists and dissidents," adding that Turkey needs "democracy, justice and peace—not emergency rule imposed on its own citizens."
DEM Party Co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları echoed the criticism, describing the detentions, dismissals, arrests and media restrictions as elements of "an organized policy of intimidation."
"As the economic crisis deepens and young people face an uncertain future while workers struggle with poverty and society confronts injustice, the government's priority remains suppressing dissent, punishing free thought and silencing the truth," she wrote on X.
"The country's need is not pressure against its own people," Hatimoğulları added. "It is democracy, freedom and justice."