The Ankara Governor's Office has announced a blanket ban on meetings, demonstrations, marches, rallies, sit-ins, press statements and similar public events from June 28 to July 10, citing security concerns related to the NATO summit scheduled for July 7–8.
The extraordinary measures are accompanied by extensive security arrangements that will effectively place large parts of Ankara under lockdown.
The TKP has strongly condemned the decision as a blatant attack on democratic rights and an attempt to suppress the growing anti-imperialist opposition to NATO. The party announced that it has filed a lawsuit challenging the governor's decision, arguing that the ban violates fundamental constitutional rights and freedoms.
According to the communists, the Erdoğan government is trying to turn Ankara into an "open-air prison" out of fear that thousands of workers, youth and anti-imperialist activists will take to the streets against NATO's aggressive agenda. The party stresses that the authorities seek to prevent the Turkish people from raising their voice against an alliance responsible for imperialist wars, military interventions and escalating militarization.
Despite the ban, the TKP has reaffirmed its determination to hold a mass anti-NATO rally in Ankara on July 5, two days before the summit begins, as part of a broader week of anti-imperialist actions. Calling on workers, youth, patriots and all progressive people to join the mobilization, the party declared that attempts to silence the anti-NATO movement will not succeed.
"The more they try to intimidate us, the stronger our struggle against NATO and imperialism will become," the communists stressed, reaffirming their call to strengthen the anti-imperialist struggle against the military alliance and Turkey's continued participation in its plans.