According to Kurdpress, the "Youth Against NATO and Imperialist Wars" coalition held a protest rally in front of the Türkan Saylan Cultural Center in the Alsancak district of Izmir, ahead of the NATO summit scheduled for July 7 and 8 in Turkey.

During the gathering, participants held placards bearing slogans such as "You cannot stop the anti-NATO struggle with arrests" and "We will not allow you to pave the way for NATO through repression, arrests, and pressure," while chanting slogans including "Turkey out of NATO, close the military bases" and "Long live the revolutionary struggle."

Qardelen Yughungan read the coalition's statement. Noting that billions of liras had been spent to host the NATO summit in Ankara, she claimed that the Turkish government was seeking to quell social protests by imposing restrictions and security pressures.

She also pointed to the restrictions implemented in Ankara ahead of the summit, stating that political activists and leftist groups had been subjected to raids on their homes and offices as well as arrests, and that a number of the coalition's members had also been detained. According to her, these measures would not halt the protests, and opposition to "warmongering and NATO policies" would continue.

Yuğungan went on to describe NATO as a US-led organization, holding the alliance responsible for numerous wars, military interventions, and instances of global devastation. He asserted that opposing NATO is, in fact, tantamount to opposing war, capitalism, and imperialist interventions, while standing in defense of an equal and free world.

Referring to the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, he noted that new decisions regarding conflicts would be made during the gathering. Citing prominent figures from Turkey’s leftist movement of the 1960s and 1970s—such as Deniz Gezmiş, Mahir Çayan, and İbrahim Kaypakkaya—he stated that activists within this movement would carry on their legacy and stand firm against NATO and what he termed the alliance's "warmongering policies."