Turkey has widened its crackdown on public life, arresting more than 200 people in raids across Ankara last month, jailing a comedian and blocking a cruise ship carrying LGBTQ+ passengers from docking, as the Nato summit approaches.
The arrests followed a ban on demonstrations in Ankara until 10 July. Human Rights Watch said this was evidence of Turkey's “ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly”. The watchdog noted that the summit, starting Tuesday, occurs amid intensifying violations of basic rights, including restrictions on the main opposition party, media and freedom of expression.
Last week, standup comedian Deniz Göktaş was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention after arriving at Istanbul airport. He was charged with insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and denigrating religious values for a show in which he called Erdoğan a dictator and made jokes about suicide bombers. The performance was on 1 June and a recording released on YouTube on 24 June has been viewed nearly 9m times.
In another incident, authorities in Aydın blocked a cruise ship operated by Atlantis, a company specialising in gay-friendly holidays, from docking, citing that passengers were “known for behaviours” not aligning with “our society and our moral values”. US actor Patti LuPone, scheduled to perform on the cruise, confirmed the ban on social media.
On Sunday, two journalists were arrested: Buse Söğütlü of T24 and Ceren Erdoğdu of OdaTV. Söğütlü’s lawyer said the arrests were likely linked to the Nato summit. Ankara’s prosecutor’s office said the late June dawn raids aimed to “decipher the action and activities of terrorist organisations”, but Human Rights Watch said no evidence of crimes was provided.
Western leaders have largely avoided publicly criticising Turkey’s rights record, focusing instead on security ties. Former US ambassador David Satterfield said it remains important for the west to comment on the degradation of democratic institutions in Turkey, as the course is not irrevocably set.
