The Erdoğan Regime Must Immediately Halt Its Fascist Repression of Anti-Imperialist and Anti-NATO Forces!
Ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara on July 7–8, the Erdoğan regime in Türkiye has launched a sweeping campaign of fascist repression against members of anti-imperialist and anti-NATO organizations. In the early hours of June 12, simultaneous house raids were carried out across eight provinces, including Eskişehir, resulting in the illegal and violent arrest of 14 student activists from the Revolutionary Students Union. The accusation of “membership in an illegal terrorist organization” leveled against them is a blatant fabrication; in reality, these arrests are aimed at suppressing anti-imperialist and anti-NATO activities.
Furthermore, in the early hours of June 15, the authorities rounded up and detained eight leaders and core activists of the Struggle Unity Platform, 11 members and activists of independent trade unions, and the Istanbul representative of the textile union “Dev Tekstil” in a mass operation across Istanbul. Raids were also carried out on the homes of other progressive activists and on trade-union facilities, during which property was ransacked and seized. The fascist authorities committed grave human-rights violations, including a complete denial of access to legal counsel for detainees during the first 24 hours of their detention.
Political repression is intensifying throughout society of Türkiye. The Söğütözü district near the Presidential Complex in Ankara and the areas surrounding 15 luxury hotels designated to accommodate foreign delegations have been declared “red zones,” with both vehicle and pedestrian traffic placed under strict control. In addition, all demonstrations and marches have been banned throughout Ankara from July 1 to 15. In another outrageous measure, students are being forced to vacate state university dormitories so that they can be used to house the large numbers of riot police to be deployed during the summit. The authorities have ordered the deployment of 40,000 military and police personnel to major cities, stationed plainclothes police officers throughout the country, and installed additional surveillance cameras at more than 100 key locations, in order to keep progressive forces and ordinary people under constant surveillance. Beyond sealing off key infrastructure, they are also restricting and canceling international flights and conducting investigations and surveillance against progressive organizations under the pretext of uncovering their alleged “backers” and “sources of funding.”
Türkiye is blindly aligning itself with NATO, the command center of World War 3. At a time when war is unfolding in West Asia with Iran, Türkiye is seeking to bring together the four Gulf states associated with the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative—Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait—at this NATO summit, while promoting the further integration of pro-U.S. Arab states into NATO structures. Through this summit, Turkish military-industrial companies are expected to become increasingly subordinated to NATO standards and reduced to subcontractors for Western military-industrial monopolies. U.S. and NATO military bases in Türkiye serve as key strategic hubs and forward operating bases for intervention in West Asia and maintain close links with the intelligence apparatus of Zionist Israel. These developments demonstrate that, through the Ankara NATO Summit, Türkiye is moving toward becoming a complete proxy of the imperialist camp in the war in West Asia and, ultimately, in World War 3. Where there is repression, there is resistance. The just struggle of anti-imperialist and anti-NATO activists cannot be suppressed by any force. The people of Türkiye and the peoples of the world will advance a powerful anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggle against aggression and oppression, defeating imperialism and fascism and bringing closer a new world of independence, peace, and democracy.
June 15, 2026
World Anti-imperialist Platform
