The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold a leaders’ summit in less than a month, on July 7 and 8, 2026, in the Turkish capital, Ankara. This meeting takes place against a backdrop of internal disagreements over Ukraine and unprecedented pressures to increase military spending above the historic 2% of GDP.
Meanwhile, various social groups are preparing counter-summits to denounce the warmongering escalation and subordination to the imperialist interests of American and European military expansionism, serving the interests of capitalism. Evidence itself shows that NATO has participated in invasions and military interventions in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, and other places, and has promoted an arms race that has increased global tension and diverted fundamental resources from social needs to the war industry.
At the same time, the demand to raise the defense spending ceiling to 5% of GDP by 2035 generates intense debate about the cost to European economies. Allocating extraordinary sums to the military would come at the expense of basic rights such as social programs, healthcare, and the fight against climate change.
Parallel to the official event, leftist organizations, trade unions, and pacifist movements have been calling for an “International Anti-Imperialist Summit for Peace” in Istanbul on July 4, as a prelude to the protests in Ankara. The conveners, which include the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP) and the Fourth International, denounce NATO as the armed wing of imperialism and demand the closure of all its military bases on Turkish territory, just as the anti-military movement does in the Spanish State. Activists warn that the pressure to increase military spending consumes resources created by the working class that should be directed to that same class, while also increasing the risks of a nuclear and ecological escalation.
NO TO NATO.