Turkey has rejected criticism of the heightened security measures at the NATO summit
Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi stated that the security measures implemented during the NATO summit in Ankara were justified and commensurate with the scale of an international event. Ankara thus rejected accusations that it had imposed excessive restrictions during the Alliance meeting.
The minister noted that security measures were “exactly as much as was necessary.”
Çiftçi reported that during the 36th summit of NATO heads of state and government, which took place on July 7 and 8 at the presidential complex in Ankara, approximately 56,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed.
“We did not go overboard with the measures. We took the necessary precautions,” he said, adding that security personnel had analyzed all possible risks prior to the summit.
The minister explained that planning for security measures began several months before the event, with Ankara serving as the center of a multi-tiered security plan. Adjacent provinces were designated as the first security ring, neighboring provinces and port cities as the second ring, and border provinces as the third ring.
He noted that intelligence, cybercrime, and counterterrorism units began their work a month before the summit, that security measures were stepped up 15 days before the event, and that precautions “reached their peak” in the final 72 hours.
“Thanks to all these measures, we held the summit without any problems or incidents,” said Çiftçi.
The statement by the Turkish Interior Minister is reported by Turkish Minute.
You may be interested in:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8, which lasted over an hour. The main topic of the talks was countering the common threat posed by Russia and the need to maintain mutual understanding between the countries.
Earlier, Marcin Przydacz, head of the Polish President’s Office for International Policy, stated that the Ukrainian side had canceled the planned meetings between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
