Dozens of Turkish journalists have been denied accreditation for a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara next month, media outlets and journalist associations said on Thursday, with NATO saying it relied on Turkey for guidance about journalists.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart said that NATO relied on the host nation to provide assessments on journalists from their country to ensure access to the meeting site. © Mena Today
Dozens of Turkish journalists have been denied accreditation for a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara next month, media outlets and journalist associations said on Thursday, with NATO saying it relied on Turkey for guidance about journalists.
Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the alliance's partners in the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8.
Turkish independent media outlets including Cumhuriyet, Sozcu, Anka, T24 and Medyascope said on Wednesday and Thursday that NATO had denied their reporters' accreditation applications for the NATO summit.
Ersin Celik, a journalist working for the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper, also said in a post on his Instagram account on Thursday that NATO had denied his accreditation request.
"The denial of accreditation applications from a large number of media outlets is worrying in terms of press freedom," the Turkish Journalists Association said in a statement.
"With this decision, NATO has also violated the principles of ‘democracy, individual freedom and the rule of law’ emphasised in its founding treaty," it said.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart said that NATO relied on the host nation to provide assessments on journalists from their country to ensure access to the meeting site.
"We are in contact with Turkish authorities on accreditation for the NATO Summit in Ankara. It is very important for NATO that media can attend major events in person," she said in a post on X.
Turkey's Communications Directorate was not immediately available for comment.
Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever
U.S. Vice President JD Vance indicated on Wednesday that a review was under way to see how the United States could sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets given Ankara's 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
Turkish authorities detained 209 people in anti-terrorism operations on Tuesday, prosecutors said, a day after Ankara imposed restrictions on public gatherings ahead of next month's NATO summit.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan ordered officials on Sunday to resume talks on reopening an Orthodox Christian seminary near Istanbul, an issue raised by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is expected to visit Ankara next month for a NATO summit.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.