ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is rolling out sweeping security measures for the upcoming NATO summit, deploying tens of thousands of police and placing air defenses on high alert, while banning public gatherings and imposing controversial restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.
That’s meant to safeguard the summit, but also to display strength and underscore Turkey’s commitment to the military alliance, even as it is often portrayed as an outlier within it.
On July 7–8, leaders from all 32 member states are expected convene in the Turkish capital, including U.S. President Donald Trump, whose threats to withdraw from NATO and reduce U.S. troop levels have cast uncertainty over the alliance’s future.
Turkey has also unveiled a new VIP airport, converted from a former military airfield, specifically to host NATO leaders.
Allies will aim for unity
At the Ankara summit, NATO members are expected to address questions over defense spending and the U.S.’s evolving role in the alliance.
The main agenda will center on unity after Trump has criticized allies for failing to support the U.S.-led war on Iran and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“The important aspect of the meeting is to what extent the rift between the United States and Europe can be healed or narrowed during the summit,” said Fatih Ceylan, a former Turkish ambassador to NATO and security analyst at the Ankara Policy Center. “We should not expect miracles, but nonetheless if there is a convergence of ideas emphasizing the importance of NATO, that should be seen as a success.”
Turkey’s role as host seems to have helped win an appearance by Trump, who has a close rapport with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Well, except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don’t think I would have gone to it,” he told reporters following a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House.
Turkey has often acted independently in NATO
In the run-up to the summit, Erdogan described Turkey as a reliable ally that consistently shoulders responsibility on NATO’s southeastern flank and will continue to play a leading role in the alliance. He said his country was working to ensure that the Ankara Summit “will stand as a reference point in NATO’s history.”
A NATO member since 1952, Turkey has the alliance’s second-largest army after the United States, a fast-growing defense industry, and a strategic location the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus.
Yet it has often acted independently, frustrating allies by refusing to participate in sanctions on Russia, engaging in disputes with Greece, and purchasing Russian missile defense systems — a move that led to its expulsion from the U.S.-led F-35 program in 2019.
Turkey also delayed Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership until it secured concessions on counter-terrorism cooperation and the lifting of arms export restrictions, and blocked the appointments of NATO chiefs Anders Fogh Rassmussen in 2009 and Mark Rutte in 2024 until other demands were met.
But Turkey’s independent streak has also enabled it to play a mediating role, from brokering a deal to ship grain across the Black Sea between Ukraine and Russia in 2022 to supporting recent initiatives aimed at ending the war in Iran.
Ankara, too, has at times been frustrated with its NATO allies, particularly over what it saw as the alliance’s lack of solidarity during a failed coup attempt in 2016, and the arms sales restrictions imposed on Turkey after its intervention in Syria.
Murat Aslan, an analyst at the Ankara-based SETA think tank, said Turkey learned to “play it alone” due to its turbulent relations with the United States and Europe, adding that Europe is now also talking about “strategic autonomy” from the U.S.
Turkey can help NATO navigate U.S.–Europe tensions by showing how to “balance” independence with alliance commitments, he said.
Ankara is tilting back toward the West
More recently, however, Turkey has leaned closer to NATO, whose importance was underscored during the Iran war when alliance missile defenses intercepted four missiles fired from Iran into Turkish territory. Weeks before the summit, Italy and Germany deployed air defense systems to help Turkey respond to heightened threats.
“Turkey wishes to distinguish itself as a foreign policy actor that is independent of NATO and the West,” wrote Hamish Kinnear, principal Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, in a note. “While Turkey is not abandoning its balancing approach, it is tilting closer to the West, primarily because of NATO.”
Authorities roll out strict security measures
In Ankara, strict access restrictions will be imposed on several of the city’s main arteries, around airports, the presidential complex where the summit will be held, and around hotels hosting the delegations, severely disrupting life in the city of nearly 6 million.
As the country prepares for the summit, Erdogan unveiled a new airport which was transformed from a former military airfield into a modern facility with expanded runways. The new Ankara Airport is expected to remain a VIP airport after the summit and is not expected to serve the general public, officials have said.
Facades of houses along the route from the new airport have been painted over as part of city beautification efforts, the newspaper Cumhuriyet reported.
With a history of terrorist attacks, Turkey’s capital is no stranger to tight security, but the measures being taken in connection with NATO appear to go beyond the usual.
Authorities have also banned demonstrations, concerts, and graduation ceremonies during the summit, while nonessential state employees have been placed on leave to ease congestion.
Security units have detained more than 200 people suspected of links to extremist groups, including the Islamic State group, authorities said. Media reports said that several activists, lawyers and an academic were caught up in the sweep.
A Turkish court, meanwhile, blocked access to websites critical of NATO and the summit on security and public order grounds, according to Engelli Web, a website that tracks websites banned in Turkey. Several journalists from Turkish opposition-leaning media organizations were denied accreditation to cover the summit, sparking outrage from media rights groups.
“In the history of the organization, we have never witnessed security measures as stringent and suffocating in a host city for a summit as we are seeing this time in Ankara,” wrote Namik Tan, a former Turkish ambassador and legislator from Turkey’s main opposition party.
Personal trainer Selin Karakoc said she breathed a sigh of relief after she was told that her wedding on July 5 falls just before the start of the restrictions.
“Ours could be one of the last weddings in Ankara that week,” she joked.