NATO and Turkish flags flutter at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Dozens of Turkish journalists have been denied accreditation for a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara next month, media outlets and journalist associations said on Thursday, with NATO saying it relied on Turkey for guidance about journalists.

Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the alliance’s partners in the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8.

Turkish independent media outlets including Cumhuriyet, Sozcu, Anka, T24, and Medyascope said on Wednesday and Thursday that NATO had denied their reporters’ accreditation applications for the NATO summit.

Ersin Celik, a journalist working for the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper, also said in a post on his Instagram account on Thursday that NATO had denied his accreditation request.

“The denial of accreditation applications from a large number of media outlets is worrying in terms of press freedom,” the Turkish Journalists Association said in a statement.

“With this decision, NATO has also violated the principles of ‘democracy, individual freedom and the rule of law’ emphasised in its founding treaty,” it said.

NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart said that NATO relied on the host nation to provide assessments on journalists from their country to ensure access to the meeting site.

“We are in contact with Turkish authorities on accreditation for the NATO Summit in Ankara. It is very important for NATO that media can attend major events in person,” she said in a post on X.

Turkey’s Communications Directorate was not immediately available for comment.