NATO Meets in Turkey Amid Crackdown on Civil Society; Trump Praises Erdoğan & Considers F

Trump announced on Tuesday at the NATO summit in Ankara that he would lift U.S. sanctions on Turkey and is considering selling the country F-35 fighter jets. Trump made the comment following a lavish state dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom he praised as a “great leader.” The mayor of Istanbul and other Turkish politicians, civil society figures and journalists remain jailed on politically motivated charges. “Here in Ankara, and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking place in a climate of freedom. We saw, in the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in dawn raids,” says Ruth Michaelson, a journalist based in Istanbul. “There has also been a protest ban enforced in Ankara, and that is a protest ban that extends even to leafleting.” Repression from the Turkish state has not been addressed during the summit; instead, “something that we’ve been hearing throughout the summit is that Turkey has this indispensable place in NATO,” says Michaelson. Transcript AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We turn now to Ankara, Turkey, where the NATO summit is on its second and final day. President Trump has dominated the headlines by restating Greenland should be controlled by the United States, denouncing European allies, and declaring the ceasefire over with Iran, while calling Iran’s leaders “scum” and a “cancer.” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised the most recent U.S. attacks on Iran, calling them “absolutely necessary,” while telling Trump, quote, “I’m with you.” Rutte’s comments came after Trump castigated NATO allies for refusing to aid the U.S. and Israel in attacks on Iran. Ahead of the talks, Rutte praised NATO members who have committed to spending at least 5% of their gross domestic product on their militaries, a key demand of the Trump administration. Trump, meanwhile, refused to rule out additional U.S. troop reductions in Europe. But earlier today, he did praise Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I like Erdoğan. I’ll tell you, I like President Erdoğan. He rolled out the red carpet. He’s terrific. You know, he could have gone into the war. A lot of people are saying — like with Bibi. I like Bibi. I think Bibi is a terrific wartime prime minister. But Bibi said rough things yesterday about Turkey and Erdoğan. And I said, “You know” — I spoke to him. I said, “He could have gone into the war, because he doesn’t like Israel much, and he doesn’t like Bibi much. And he didn’t go because of me.” And this is a military power, millions of soldiers. Turkey is very strong. AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, Trump announced he would lift U.S. sanctions on Turkey that were imposed in 2020 over its purchase of a Russian air defense system. Trump made the announcement following a lavish state dinner hosted by Turkish President Erdoğan, whom he called Turkey’s “biggest asset.” This comes as the mayor of Istanbul and other Turkish politicians, civil society figures and journalists remain jailed on politically motivated charges. Ahead of Trump’s visit to Ankara, Turkish police detained more than 100 protesters as they marched to demand Turkey’s withdrawal from NATO. NESLIHAN KOÇASLAN: [translated] NATO’s crimes around the world are apparent. They have also committed numerous offenses in Turkey, orchestrated coups, and have bases here. And now, shamelessly, they are being hosted in Ankara. I am here today to protest, because I cannot accept this blow to my honor. NATO is a very big criminal organization. AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go now to Ankara, Turkey, where we’re joined by Ruth Michaelson, journalist based in Istanbul, her recent piece for The Guardian headlined “Turkey intensifies crackdown on public life in run-up to Nato summit in Ankara.” Talk about what’s happening in the street, and also people’s view of NATO and what’s happening right now. RUTH MICHAELSON: Well, I mean, I think it’s clear, here in — here in Ankara, and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking place in a climate of freedom. We saw, in the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in dawn raids. There were members of that group that were arrested, that Human Rights Watch pointed out. The authorities have given no clarity about what warranted the arrests, what warranted the accusations that went along with it, that those arrested had links to terrorism. Things that we do know about at least one of the people who was detained is that he’s a prominent LGBTQ journalist. He’s the head of an LGBTQ rights organization. There are others who were part of that group of detained people who are environmentalists. So that really calls into question the rationale for this huge number of arrests. There has also been a protest ban enforced in Ankara, and that is a protest ban that extends even to leafleting. So, in a way, it’s remarkable that there are people that still went out to protest. There were protests on Sunday here in the Turkish capital, about a hundred people arrested at those protests, not the MPs that were with them, but a hundred other protesters, and then more arrests from anti-NATO protesters yesterday. And so, I mean, the overall picture is one where this is a Turkish administration that wants us to — or, wants the world, really, and Turkish citizens to focus on Turkey’s foreign policy successes or achievements, and not what’s happening at home. AMY GOODMAN: Talk, Ruth, about Turkey’s and Erdoğan’s diplomatic and militaristic interests here, particularly with its geographic position, sharing a border with Iran, with Syria, its proximity to Russia and Ukraine, and President Trump now talking about lifting the ban on Turkey getting F-35 jet fighters. RUTH MICHAELSON: Well, I mean, this is something that we’ve been hearing throughout the summit, is that Turkey has this indispensable place in NATO, second largest army in NATO. Erdoğan, when speaking earlier, spoke about the work that Turkey is doing in Ukraine to support President Zelensky and to support Ukraine, including weapon sales. And, you know, this is something that we’ve heard emphasized a huge amount from international leadership here, the praise for Turkey’s role in NATO, and then aversion when asked about whether that means that they would say anything about what’s happening domestically in the country. I mean, you mentioned it in the introduction to your program. The mayor of Istanbul is in prison. And we heard NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte mention this earlier this week, lots and lots of praise for Turkey, for Turkish weapons and defense production, which is enormous, but also at the same time talking about — you know, really saying he thinks that the right to demonstrate is very important, when asked about Turkey’s human rights record, but really not wishing to be drawn on it any further. A coalition of U.S. senators, like Jeanne Shaheen and Dick Durbin, who were here speaking earlier today and mentioning that there is what they described as widespread concern in Congress about Turkey, Turkish democratic backsliding, but then, again, emphasizing Turkey’s hugely important place in NATO, especially in light of Trump’s demand that other NATO allies step up production to 3.5% of GDP. So, the focus here has been about Turkey’s essential role in all of this, role in NATO, ability to manufacture weapons, but, as I say, a real aversion to talking about what is happening outside of the summit itself. AMY GOODMAN: And the significance of what’s happening right now, President Trump calling the Iranian leaders “scum” and “cancer” and resuming attacks, basically saying the ceasefire is off, and Rutte’s support for this, what this means, and where the other countries stand? RUTH MICHAELSON: Right, and we also heard Erdoğan’s praise for that, too. He praised — he praised Donald Trump after Trump made those comments, and talked about “my friend Donald Trump, who’s taken decisive action on Iran.” And, I mean, Trump’s comments, obviously, about what’s happening with the memorandum of understanding with Iran really throwing a huge amount into question. I mean, he said some contradictory things in that statement. On one hand, he’s saying the deal is over, there’s no point in having these talks that were supposed to happen after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral, that is due to conclude tomorrow with his burial in Mashhad. There were meant to be talks about Iran’s nuclear program that were meant to take place afterwards. But then Trump also saying that he would task Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with — you know, that they would have some discussion about whether these talks would continue, but that, really, he’s the decider. And so, I think there is this possibility, really, that things will return to this kind of strange stalemate, where we see both sides firing at one another, as we saw during the negotiations around the MOU, but that is also a stalemate that can’t go on forever. That also resolves nothing. And, of course, it still means that every time that Donald Trump says things like this, calling Iranian leaders “scum,” issuing these threats, that there is likely to be some response. And so, it really sort of extends this uncertainty to a pretty dangerous new place, when you hear comments like that. AMY GOODMAN: Finally, in the last 30 seconds, what do you think the international media is missing? I mean, from the perspective of media in the United States, we hear nothing about the protests and the arrests of hundreds of people in this lead-up to the NATO summit and President Trump’s presence there. RUTH MICHAELSON: And I think the other thing that we probably shouldn’t lose sight of, overall, is that the mayor of Istanbul is in prison. Those are on charges that — where it’s been widely questioned about how politicized those charges may be, and that, you know, this talk of democratic backsliding, that has a real, tangible thing, in the sense that an elected leader is in prison while this is going on. AMY GOODMAN: Ruth Michaelson, journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey. Her recent piece for The Guardian, we’ll link to it at democracynow.org, “Turkey intensifies crackdown on public life in run-up to Nato summit in Ankara.” Coming up, we go to Nairobi to talk to journalist Julia Steers. Her new documentary, Inside the Secret Network Fueling Sudan’s War. [break] AMY GOODMAN: “Mean Love” by the Sudanese musician Sinkane. Media Options