ANKARA, Turkey—One hundred and forty members of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) have been indicted by the government for their role in organizing an anti-war demonstration during the NATO summit in Ankara this past July.
Leaders of the U.S.-European war alliance, including President Donald Trump, met in the Turkish capital to coordinate military spending and weapons manufacturing.
The TKP, which decided to hold a rally before the summit, had planned a week-long summit against NATO, which it described as “the world’s largest terrorist organization.”
Following the protest, which received extensive coverage in both national and international media, 140 party members were detained by authorities. Some were injured during police raids, and three were placed under house arrest.
A further assault—a legal one—came three months later. Earlier this month, an indictment was unsealed against the TKP members who had been arrested, including the Ankara Provincial Chairman and members of the Central Committee and the Party Council.
Prosecutors demand prison sentences ranging from six months to three years, accusing the TKP activists of “violating the Law on Demonstrations and Marches” and “resisting the police.”
In an attempt to head off any protests that would embarrass it in front of its NATO allies, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government, headed by the right-wing Justice and Development Party (AKP), decided to ban demonstrations and events in many cities, including the TKP rally.
In Ankara, a state of emergency was even declared. Civil servants were given a week’s leave, dormitories were evacuated, many critical points in the city were closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, areas declared red zones were evacuated, shantytowns were cordoned off with signs, cameras with facial recognition systems were installed at many critical points, and a total of 50,000 police officers were deployed to enforce the ban on demonstrations.
In short, the most basic rights of citizens were suspended before the NATO Summit.
Responding to this situation, the Communist Party of Turkey, in a statement made just before the ban on the rally was formalized, said:
“There are millions in this country whose hearts beat against the brutality of Israel and the USA, and who stand to the end with the Palestinian and Iranian people. There is a people in this country who are ashamed of the U.S. and NATO bases on our soil. Engrave this in your minds and never forget it.
“It is the duty of the patriots, republicans, revolutionaries, and communists of this country to confront NATO as it deserves in Ankara, to stand against this imperialist banditry with tens of thousands of people.”
Shortly after this statement, the Ankara government decided to impose its ban on all demonstrations in the city.
In response, the TKP moved ahead with its plans, holding a march on Sunday, July 5, with hundreds of people in Kızılay, the center of the capital, which was one of the areas forcefully emptied and where thousands of police officers were deployed.
Those in attendance chanted slogans such as “NATO shall not pass.” That alone, apparently, became grounds for prosecution.
This article originally appeared in the Turkish media outlet soL. It was translated and edited for a U.S. audience.
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