Thousands protest NATO summit in Kadıköy: 'You are not welcome'

Thousands gathered in Kadıköy, Istanbul, to protest the NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8 in Ankara, with demonstrators demanding Turkey's exit from the alliance. Organized by the "No to NATO Coordination," numerous political parties and labor, professional, women's, and student organizations convened near the Bull Statue before marching to the waterfront.

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What is presented to us as the 'New NATO' is the reordering of our region in imperialist division, leading to a bloody reckoning. It is the role of being a 'bullet soldier' in this upheaval that the AKP, capital, and the Palace desperately desire.

Chants of "No to war, budget for workers," "No to war, peace now," "Killer NATO get out of Turkey," "NATO get out, this country is ours," and "Withdraw from NATO, close the bases" echoed during the march. Following the procession, a press statement was read in the square by theater artist Serkan Genç. The statement condemned the arrests of activists in Ankara and Istanbul prior to the summit.

"What is presented to us as the 'New NATO' is the reordering of our region in imperialist division, leading to a bloody reckoning. It is the role of being a 'bullet soldier' in this upheaval that the AKP, capital, and the Palace desperately desire," the statement read. "We have a clear answer to the AKP, which spends billions of liras to be imperialism's 'bullet soldier' and has turned the country into an open-air prison for revolutionaries, progressives, and workers: You are not welcome."

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We have a clear answer to the AKP, which spends billions of liras to be imperialism's 'bullet soldier' and has turned the country into an open-air prison for revolutionaries, progressives, and workers: You are not welcome.

The "No to NATO Coordination" further elaborated in their statement: "Only a few hours remain until the NATO Summit, imperialism's bloody apparatus. The summit, which has occupied the agenda for months and has turned Turkey into an open-air prison under the pretext of 'summit security,' with billions spent to please imperialist masters, arrives with its bloody calculations. The summit, marketed as 'NATO 3.0,' prepares to create new war fronts with the discourse of 'establishing a new security architecture.' The main actor of imperialism, the U.S., is both bringing its allies into line and wants to initiate a bloody war of division."

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The summit, marketed as 'NATO 3.0,' prepares to create new war fronts with the discourse of 'establishing a new security architecture.'

The statement recalled NATO's history, citing its role in military interventions in Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, and Latin America, as well as the fragmentation of Yugoslavia, the destruction of Gaza, the bombing of Tehran, and the brutal devastation of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. "NATO means destruction, war, and death for workers. NATO is the arch-enemy of those who seek independence, those who hope for bright futures, and those who want the power of the workers," it declared. The organizers vowed that the progressive, revolutionary, patriotic, socialist, and worker accumulation of these lands will demonstrate that NATO has underestimated their resolve, despite the arrests of hundreds of individuals.

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NATO means destruction, war, and death for workers. NATO is the arch-enemy of those who seek independence, those who hope for bright futures, and those who want the power of the workers.