Turkey intensifies crackdown on public life in run-up to Nato summit in Ankara

Turkish police detain a protester during an anti-Nato demonstration in Ankara on Sunday. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Turkish police detain a protester during an anti-Nato demonstration in Ankara on Sunday. Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images Turkey intensifies crackdown on public life in run-up to Nato summit in Ankara More than 200 arrested in raids, comedian and journalists jailed, gay-friendly cruise turned away and protests banned Authorities in Turkey have widened a crackdown on public life, arresting more than 200 people during raids across Ankara last month, jailing a comedian and blocking a cruise ship carrying LGBTQ+ passengers from docking in the run-up to the Nato summit in the capital. The arrests followed a ban on demonstrations in Ankara that was put in place until 10 July. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this was evidence of Turkey’s “ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly”. The watchdog group said the Nato summit , which starts on Tuesday, was taking place in the context of intensifying violations of basic rights, “including far-reaching restrictions on the main political opposition party, the media, and freedom of expression in general”. Last week, the standup comedian Deniz Göktaş was arrested and put in pre-trial detention after arriving at Istanbul airport from a holiday. Göktaş was charged with “insulting the president” and “denigrating religious values” in relation to a show in which he referred to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , as a dictator and made jokes about suicide bombers. The performance took place in Istanbul on 1 June and a recording was released on YouTube on 24 June. The video has been viewed nearly 9m times. View image in fullscreen People call for the release of the Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş in front of a courthouse in Istanbul on Friday. Photograph: Yasin Akgül/AFP/Getty Images According to the Turkish news outlet Bianet, Göktaş attempted to explain his jokes in his testimony to prosecutors, telling them : “The word ‘dictator’ is a political term, a topic frequently discussed in public, and I have no intention of insulting or belittling anyone with this statement.” In another recent incident, authorities in the coastal town of Aydın blocked a cruise ship operated by Atlantis, a company specialising in gay-friendly holidays, from docking on the grounds that people on board were “known for behaviours” that did “not align with the structure of our society and our moral values”. The US actor and singer Patti LuPone, who was scheduled to perform on the cruise, wrote in a social media post: “The Atlantis cruise I am performing on next week has been banned from entering Turkey … simply because of who is onboard.” This year, Reporters Without Borders accused Turkey of using “all possible means… to undermine critics” as the country fell to 163rd place out of 180 countries on the NGO’s press freedom index. View image in fullscreen Prosecutions for