[PDP Spokesperson’s Report No. 676]
The Türkiye Authorities Must Immediately Release Anti-Imperialist Youth Activists and End Their Fascist Crackdown!
The fascist authorities of Türkiye have brutally and unjustly detained three anti-imperialist youth activists. Comrades Demirdöken, Tokca, and Sağlam—members of the Revolutionary Students Union—were unlawfully and violently detained by police in Eskişehir on the 12th, and after five days in custody, their imprisonment was ordered. The truth behind the authorities’ allegation that they are “members of an illegal terrorist organization” is nothing more than fascistic repression against anti-imperialist and anti-NATO activism. The Turkish fascist regime is abusing the penal code and anti-terror legislation to portray legitimate calls of “No to NATO” and “No to Imperialism” as if they were directives issued by a terrorist organization. By claiming a risk of flight and destruction of evidence even before formal trial proceedings have begun, the judicial authorities are depriving the activists of their right to defense and politically suppressing the youth and student movement as a whole.
A wave of fascistic repression is sweeping the country ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara. On June 12 alone, fourteen people, including the three youth and student activists, were arrested. On June 15, more than twenty members of progressive organizations and trade unions were detained across Istanbul, while raids and searches were carried out on homes and union facilities. At the same time, authorities have expanded pre-trial detentions by raiding the homes of local council members and human rights activists in major eastern cities. The fascist authorities are trampling on basic rights by denying detainees access to lawyers for twenty-four hours and abusing confidentiality orders to obstruct their right to defense. The Erdoğan fascist regime plans to impose a blanket ban on all demonstrations, marches, and public events in Ankara beginning in July, while deploying forty thousand military and police personnel to major cities. In an effort to suppress youth and student activism, plainclothes police officers and armored vehicles have begun to be stationed on university campuses, and checkpoints are now in operation. Special inspection points have also been established at key entry routes into major urban centers.
Has Türkiye chosen to act as a proxy for NATO and imperialism’s wars? As the West Asian war centered on Iran unfolds, Erdoğan is bringing the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait—participants in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative—to this summit and drawing them further into the orbit of NATO and imperialist aggression. Beginning this year, NATO will concurrently hold its NATO Summit Defense Industry Forum during the summit in an effort to complete the standardization of the weapons systems of non-NATO partner states, including the ‘Republic of Korea,’ according to NATO standards. Turkish weapons have already been standardized and incorporated into the military apparatus of imperialist aggression. Meanwhile, Erdoğan’s relatives are deeply entangled with Türkiye’s defense industry corporations. The interests of NATO imperialism—which seeks to prolong the war in Ukraine and expand it to broader Eastern Europe through an endless flow of weapons—and the fascist, corrupt ruling bloc around Erdoğan are bound together in a particularly sordid and dangerous alliance. Amid the sharpening international situation of World War 3, not only Türkiye but all of West Asia stands to become even more unstable and dangerous as a result of this summit.
The determination to struggle against imperialism and NATO cannot be crushed by any force. US and NATO military bases in Türkiye serve as forward operating hubs for imperialist domination in West Asia and, since the outbreak of the war against Iran, have been fully utilized by US imperialism and Israeli Zionism. While the Turkish fascist regime denounces Israel in words, in practice it remains closely aligned with the machinery of Zionist war. Likewise, while speaking of cooperation with Russia, it has agreed to establish in Istanbul a Maritime Component Command linked to the so-called “Multinational Force Ukraine.” This is precisely why anti-imperialist and anti-NATO activists have repeatedly carried out militant actions this year against US and NATO military installations in Türkiye despite the authorities’ relentless surveillance and repression. Opposition to the NATO Summit, the removal of US and NATO forces, and the overthrow of the Erdoğan regime reflect the genuine aspirations of the Turkish people. The heroic activists of Türkiye, together with people around the world, will confront imperialist and fascist aggression through anti-imperialist struggle, defeat imperialism and fascism, and advance the cause of independence, democracy, and peace throughout the world.
June 18, 2026
Gwanghwamun, Seoul
Spokesperson Office of the People’s Democracy Party (PDP)
