Turkish authorities have ordered the formal arrest of 103 people on charges of membership in a terrorist organization, days ahead of a NATO summit in Ankara.
The suspects were among 225 people detained in raids earlier this week. Thirty-two were released, while the remaining suspects are still undergoing court procedures, the prosecutor's office said on X late on Thursday.
Government critics say the raids, which appeared to target trade unionists, lawyers and left-wing activists, are part of the government's security preparations for the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8. The government rejects the allegation.
The Ankara governor's office has imposed a blanket ban on demonstrations, while numerous streets in the city centre will be closed during the summit.
According to the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, those arrested include several members of the environmental organization TEMA and Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ organization Kaos GL.
News agency Anadolu cited Veysel Tiryakioğlu, chairman of the Turkish parliament's Security and Intelligence Committee and a lawmaker from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP, as saying that Turkey's security measures were no different from those taken by other countries hosting major international summits.
The European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor, criticized the arrests on X, writing that "when an authoritarian government hosts a summit, over 200 people are arrested."
