File photo of Turkish police
Turkish police have arrested 16 protesters during a demonstration against Ankara’s plan to host a NATO missile system in the country, Press TV reports.
According to informed sources in Turkey, police attacked the demonstration in the southwestern city of Antalya on Tuesday.
The demonstrators, who were mainly high school students, issued a statement calling for “a free Turkey,” the sources said.
Over the past weeks, Turkish activists in different cities across the country have held demonstrations to voice their opposition to the deployment of the system, in the eastern province of Malatya, saying that they do not want Turkey to turn into “a base for the US and Israel.”
Last week, police cracked down on a demonstration held in the northwestern city of Edirne.
Ankara announced its agreement to deploy the US-made system in September and according to the Turkish media, the system will be operational next week.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that the missile system is not against any country, although commentators say that Turkey faces no missile threat from its neighbors, and did not need to accept the system.
HSN/JR/HGH
via PressTV – Turkey arrests anti-NATO protesters.