Thousands of people marched peacefully through central Istanbul on Tuesday to protest the NATO summit taking place in Ankara, with participants from leftist, pro-Palestinian and Kurdish groups criticizing the military alliance and US involvement.
Demonstrators chanted, “Murderer, USA, get out of our country,” while carrying signs, including one reading, “Murderer Trump. Get out of Turkey.”
Ali Gültekin, a 21-year-old protester, said the demonstration opposed Türkiye’s decision to host the summit.
“We are here to protest the hosting in Ankara — at a cost of millions of dollars — of NATO, an organization we regard as a massacre machine established to preserve global hegemony.”
The protest concluded peacefully without any arrests. Earlier in the day, police dispersed a smaller demonstration in Ankara, where protests were banned during the NATO summit, and detained about 20 people.