Turkish editor and NGO volunteers released after NATO summit arrests

A Turkish LGBTQ journal editor and environmental volunteers were among around a dozen people released on Wednesday nearly a month after they were arrested on terror-related charges before a NATO summit in Ankara.

Yildiz Tar, editor-in-chief of LGBTQ journal Kaos GL, wrote on X that he had been released. The TEMA Foundation, a Turkish environmental NGO, said on X that 10 of its detained volunteers had also been freed early on Wednesday.

Turkish authorities carried out a large crackdown before the July 7-8 NATO summit in the capital. AFP reported that 4,412 people were arrested, including journalists and civil society leaders.

Lawyer Suleyman Cetin told AFP the detainees were released at about 4:00 am. He described the case as a major judicial error that had been corrected 29 days later, and questioned how the time spent in detention would be compensated.

Cetin said another 14 volunteers remained under house arrest and said he hoped that restriction would be lifted soon.

Burcu Arikan, spokeswoman for the UMUT-SEN labour union, was also released on Tuesday night, the union said in a statement on X. The union said hundreds of people arrested in connection with NATO were still being held and said it would continue its struggle against NATO and its domestic collaborators.

International rights advocates had criticised the arrests. Human Rights Watch said the misuse of terrorism laws to conduct mass arrests and silence people before a NATO summit went against the founding values of the alliance.