The Turkish government is facing criticism over measures imposed before a July NATO summit in Ankara, including a 13-day ban on public demonstrations, road closures, administrative leave for public employees, police raids, restrictions on shopkeepers and preparations for visiting leaders that critics say have disrupted daily life for the sake of summit optics.
The 36th NATO summit will be held July 7 and 8 at the presidential complex in Ankara, bringing leaders of the 32-member alliance to Turkey for the second NATO summit hosted by the country after İstanbul in 2004, NATO said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the summit, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The Ankara Governor’s Office announced a ban on meetings, marches, press statements, hunger strikes, sit-ins, rallies, stands, tents, leaflets, brochures, posters and banners across the city from June 28 to July 10, citing summit security, public order, national security and the safety of visiting delegations.
The governor’s office also said unauthorized people and vehicles would be barred from sensitive areas, including the summit venue, delegation hotels and routes to be used by visiting officials.
Drone flights will also be banned across Ankara unless authorized by the governor’s office.
The restrictions have prompted anger from residents, opposition figures and commentators who say summit security has gone far beyond normal protection for visiting heads of state and is making ordinary people pay the price for a diplomatic event.
Nihat Sırdar, a radio host, wrote on X that roads would be closed from June 28 to July 10, that public employees would be on leave, that parking along roads, in shopping mall lots and market parking lots would be banned, that spending had exceeded 11 billion lira ($237 million), that people were being detained because they might protest NATO and that even parliament would not work.
“Are these enough for the NATO summit?” Sırdar asked in a post viewed more than 468,000 times.
The backlash grew after reports said public employees in nine Ankara districts would be placed on administrative leave during the summit week, except those assigned to summit duties or critical services.
Public employees in Altındağ, Çankaya, Etimesgut, Gölbaşı, Keçiören, Mamak, Pursaklar, Sincan and Yenimahalle will be on administrative leave from July 6 to 12, Turkish media reported, citing official instructions.
Examinations, panel discussions, graduation ceremonies, concerts, festivals and similar public events should not be planned during the summit week, according to the same instructions.
Opposition politician Aylin Kotil criticized the measure on X, asking whether everyone in Ankara was a civil servant and how private sector workers, shopkeepers and millions of residents were expected to get to work, get home or to health services during the restrictions.
“How is stopping daily life in the capital for 13 days a security measure?” Kotil wrote.
The governor’s office on Thursday published a list of roads that will be closed to traffic around the presidential complex, delegation hotels and motorcade routes on July 6, 7 and 8.
The closures include roads around the presidential complex and parts of several major boulevards, with officials saying parked vehicles would not be allowed on designated routes and would be towed.
The governor’s office advised residents to plan their travel in advance and use alternative routes.
Critics say the restrictions reflect a governing culture in which public space is cleared for state protocol while the burden is passed on to residents.
Selim Kuneralp, a former Turkish diplomat, compared the Ankara measures with his experience in Brussels, where European Union summits and NATO meetings are frequent.
Kuneralp wrote on X that when summits were held in Brussels, the closure of the Schuman metro station beneath the European Council building was often the only sign of a summit, while ministerial meetings were barely noticed because motorcades and sirens were not common practice.
He said Belgians would not tolerate more disruption in a democratic country.
The anger also has a rights dimension.
Turkish authorities detained more than 200 people in raids in Ankara before the summit, saying the operations targeted suspected links to extremist groups, including the Islamic State group and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).
Prosecutors issued detention warrants for 241 people, of whom 209 were taken into custody.
Some media outlets and rights groups said those detained included politicians, lawyers and activists, leading to allegations that the government was using summit security as a pretext to silence critics before possible anti-NATO protests.
Among those detained were Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of Kaos GL, a leading LGBTQ news and rights outlet, and leftist and LGBTQ activists.
Journalist Amberin Zaman wrote on X that Turkey’s “clean up” before the NATO summit had “not only netted helpless stray dogs but people,” naming Emel Memiş, an associate professor at Ankara University’s faculty of political sciences, and Tar.
LGBTQ organizations said the detainees included LGBTQ activists, women’s rights defenders, feminist rights defenders, lawyers, academics, labor union representatives and human rights activists.
“Being a journalist, lawyer, or academic is not a crime. LGBTI+ rights advocacy is not a crime,” the groups said in a joint statement.
Erol Önderoğlu, the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders, said the detention of Tar was arbitrary and that an international summit did not justify holding a journalist on security grounds.
The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, said Ankara was being turned into “a giant prison” with bans imposed for the NATO summit.
The government says the security measures are necessary because Turkey has faced attacks by extremist groups and because summits attended by heads of state require protection.
Officials said the measures were intended to protect public order, prevent crimes and protect the rights and freedoms of others along with the safety of delegations, the Ankara Governor’s Office said.
But criticism increased after reports about cosmetic preparations in the city.
Police asked municipalities to remove stray dogs from routes to be used by summit delegations and from areas around event venues, airports and hotels.
The request was made under instructions to prevent disruption during the summit.
İlke TV reported that shopkeepers were told not to create “visual pollution” before the summit.
The restrictions on shopkeepers became another sign for critics that authorities were trying to make Ankara presentable for foreign leaders while treating residents and small businesses as obstacles.
Sözcü reported that 40,000 police officers would protect summit guests and that about 9,000 people, including 2,000 journalists, were expected to attend.
Sözcü also reported that rooms were reserved in 70 four and five-star hotels for delegations, while some visiting leaders would stay at embassy residences.
Trump, who is expected to come to Turkey for the first time as US president, will stay at the new US Embassy or the ambassador’s residence in Çankaya, while a five-star hotel has also been reserved for the US delegation.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s jogging routine also became part of the debate after Sözcü reported that Botanik Park, Dikmen Valley and other parks were considered as running routes for him during the summit.
The report drew ridicule and anger online because it came as residents were discussing road closures, protest bans, raids and disruption.
The public reaction is rooted in the perception that Ankara is being put under a temporary security regime for a two-day summit that requires broad bans, detentions, disruption to work and transport, instructions to shopkeepers, stray dog removals and costly beautification projects across the capital.