ISTANBUL, June 23, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Two weeks before hosting a NATO summit 
that will be attended by leaders including US President Donald Trump, Turkey 
arrested more than 200 people with alleged ties to jihadist and far-left 
groups.

Rights groups and local media said the detainees included a journalist, three 
lawyers, an academic and a union official.

The top-level summit takes place in the capital Ankara on July 7-8.

Early on Tuesday, the Ankara prosecutor's office said it had issued warrants 
for 241 people, with anti-terror police arresting 209 people in early morning 
raids in the city.

Of those arrested so far, 185 are suspected of belonging to several far-left 
organisations, including the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front 
(DHKP-C), which has staged attacks in the past and has been branded a terror 
group by Ankara.

The detainees also included Yildiz Tar, editor-in-chief of LGBTQ journal Kaos 
GL, the MLSA rights group said on X, while the Progressive Lawyers 
Association (CHD) said two of its lawyers were detained in Ankara and a third 
in Istanbul.

Newspaper Gazete Oksijen said an academic from Ankara University's economics 
department and a union official were also arrested.

Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced Tar's arrest as 
"unacceptable" and demanded his release, saying the summit was no 
justification for his "arbitrary" detention on security grounds.

Authorities said the operations targeted multiple groups as part of broader 
security measures.

In a post late on Monday, the Ankara governor's office announced a ban on all 
demonstrations from June 28 until the end of the summit in order "to ensure 
summit security and maintain public order".

The summit is expected to bring together leaders from the military alliance's 
32 member states.