Left-Wing Protesters Detained after Anti-NATO Frigate Protest

Turkish police detained four members of the left-wing Red Party (a splinter faction of the Turkish Workers’ Party) after they protested in the resort town of Marmaris against the presence of the French military frigate Guépratte.

The ship, with a crew of 151, which docked at Albatros Port on June 20 as part of a NATO mission, became the target of a demonstration by anti-war activists. According to Turkish Minute, the detainees remain in police custody.

This incident occurred less than three weeks before the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit, scheduled for July 7 and 8 in Ankara.

Representatives of several opposition parties gathered in the city of Adana for a panel discussion titled “Why Not NATO?”, where they sharply criticized the alliance’s historical military interventions (in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria) and expressed concerns that the growing arms race would drag Turkey deeper into confrontational military strategies led by the US.

(max)