NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Monday that democracy is “more than elections” and requires free media and the right to demonstrate, after he was asked in Ankara about a crackdown on dissidents and journalists as well as a jailed comedian before this week’s NATO summit.
The exchange came during a news conference at the presidential complex in Ankara, where Turkey is hosting leaders from NATO’s 32 member states for the alliance’s 36th summit.
NATO Genel Sekreteri Mark Rutte'ye, Deniz Göktaş ve zirve öncesi gözaltına alınan gazeteciler hakkında soru soruldu:
"Demokrasi seçimlerden daha fazlasıdır. Demokrasi aynı zamanda özgür medyadır. Özgür medya NATO için de çok önemlidir.
Demokrasi istediğiniz soruları… https://t.co/blMP7xwG1u pic.twitter.com/SL109dG0Gg
— ibrahim Haskoloğlu (@haskologlu) July 6, 2026
A journalist asked Rutte whether Ankara was still “the best place to have a summit of liberal democracies” after what he described as a renewed crackdown in recent days and weeks on dissidents, journalists and “a comedian.” He also asked whether the summit was a good occasion for leaders to raise the issue with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“Let me say this. When it comes to democracy, democracy is more than elections,” Rutte answered.
“Elections, of course, are crucial in democracy, but democracy is also the free media, you in this room, that you can ask all the questions you want and write the pieces you want and do your research,” he said.
Rutte added that democracy also means “for people to be able to organize demonstrations if they so choose.”
“So it’s much more than only free elections,” he said.
The question referred in part to comedian Deniz Göktaş, who was jailed pending trial last week over his stand-up show “Ölü Deniz,” which drew millions of views on YouTube and included political satire and comments about Erdoğan and religion.
Göktaş faces charges of insulting the president and publicly denigrating religious values. He denies the accusations, saying his remarks were satire and that he did not intend to insult Erdoğan or religious values.
His arrest prompted criticism from opposition politicians, rights groups, actors and comedians, who accused Turkish authorities of using pretrial detention to punish speech and deter political satire.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) ousted leader Özgür Özel, who was removed in May by a controversial court decision and serves as the parliamentary group leader since then, visited Göktaş in prison on Sunday and later recounted details of the meeting.
Özel said Göktaş told him he was made to walk several times in handcuffs during his detention so footage could be recorded, adding that images showing him smiling from the front were not released and that footage from behind was used instead.
“They made me walk five times,” Göktaş told Özel. “It was like a film set. We walked the same scene four or five times.”
Göktaş also told Özel he returned to Turkey despite the investigation because he had no intention of fleeing.
“What was I going to do, not come back?” Göktaş said, according to Özel. “I did not leave with the intention of fleeing, so I had to return, and I returned immediately.”
His case has added to criticism of Turkey’s rights record as Ankara hosts the NATO summit. Authorities have tightened security in the capital, imposed restrictions on public gatherings and detained scores of people before the arrival of world leaders.
Rights groups and opposition figures say NATO allies often focus on Turkey’s military and diplomatic role while avoiding public criticism of Erdoğan’s crackdown on critics, opposition figures, journalists, activists and artists.
Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952 and has the alliance’s second-largest military after the United States. The government presents the Ankara summit as proof of Turkey’s role in the alliance, while critics say Erdoğan is using the occasion to legitimize his one-man rule.