Author: sean

9 July 2026 | By: Stop Rearm Europe (SRE)

*The International Peace Bureau is a member of the SRE.

Moreover, last week police carried out early morning raids across Ankara, arresting more than 200 people. Authorities stated the operation targeted suspected members of armed groups. However, those detained included LGBTQI+, women, and feminist rights defenders, as well as lawyers, academics, revolutionary youth, labour union representatives, and human rights activists. Around 100 people remain in pretrial detention. 

The Turkish Journalists’ Association has also reported that journalists from news organisations seen as opposition-leaning or independent have been excluded from covering the NATO Summit, with no explanation given.

Together, these measures show how the rights to peaceful assembly and demonstration, as well as press freedom are being suspended in Türkiye, and how the exercise of democratic rights is being restricted. Carried out under the guise of security concerns, this repression is yet another example of the domestic face of militarisation.

The targeting of activists opposing the war machine in Türkiye is not an isolated case. Governments across the world are using intimidation and criminalisation to suppress dissent. Striking examples in Europe include the United Kingdom and Germany, where activists taking direct action against weapons companies are facing unprecedented trials and charges for terrorism. These cases show a pattern: the same forces driving militarisation are criminalising those who resist it. International solidarity is therefore fundamental in the struggle against militarisation. 

Since the 2025 The Hague Summit, NATO is forcing its member states to increase military spending by 5% of their GDPs, a threshold that has come to be known as the “Trump 5% norm”, following months of pressure by the U.S. President to push members toward the figure. NATO’s nature as an institution promoting war and militarisation has thereby become clear once again. 

Similarly, EU institutions are promoting increased investment and spending towards militarised security, from the proposed €131 billion for “defence, security and space” in the new Multiannual Financial Framework, to the €800 billion ReArm Europe plan, financed primarily through national-level debt. However, the notion that increased military budgets make us safer is an illusion: deterrence has never prevented escalation. More military spending will only deepen our social, environmental and political problems:

• It diverts resources from healthcare, education, climate action, and welfare
• It erodes workers’ rights
• It fuels arms races which in turn lead to more conflicts and violence, human rights violations, and displacement

This is why it is so urgent to collectively oppose the plans to ReArm Europe, the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework proposal allocating €131 billion to military spending, and all military alliances, including NATO. 

The struggle against militarisation and war can only be won when we stand in solidarity with each other. We call for:

• The immediate release of all those detained in Türkiye, 
• An end to the criminalisation of anti-war activism everywhere,
• Collective resistance to NATO and the plans to ReArm Europe. 

As leaders in Ankara are gathering to prepare for war, activists are preparing for peace. We support the organisers of the Istanbul Anti-imperalist Peace Summit that took place on July 4th and  the Anti-NATO Peace Conference (online) on July 5, 2026.

Press Release

ST. PAUL, Minn. — To honor the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 120 civil society organizations joined together in a statement of solidarity with survivors. As the world commemorates this date, the authors call upon the United States and global leaders to uphold their obligations under the Convention Against Torture to support survivors, ensure accountability, and reject inhumane and cruel practices.

On this International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we stand in solidarity with survivors worldwide and sound the alarm about policies and actions that threaten the legal protections and weaken human rights mechanisms created to prevent and punish acts of torture and abuse. 

Civil society organisations from across the spectrum urge EU decision-makers to reject the military budget surge and invest in human security instead

Europe faces a choice: fund militarisation or invest in people. Ahead of crucial EU budget negotiations, civil society organisations call on leaders to prioritise health, housing, education, climate action and peacebuilding over a proposed €131 billion surge in defence spending.

Open Letter initiated by TNI, ENAAT, Stop ReArm Europe 

Click here to open and download the letter: “Security for Whom?” Civil society organisations from across the spectrum urge EU decision-makers to reject the military budget surge and invest in human security instead

A slightly adapted version of this letter will be sent to Members of the European Parliament at a later stage. It is still open to signatures from civil society groups and organisations. If your group or organisation wants to sign on, please contact j.solanki[@]tni.org. You can also read the letter here.