ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Wednesday condemned what it described as “racist and sexist” comments targeting one of its lawmakers who compared Turkish security forces cracking down on those protesting the ongoing NATO summit in Ankara to Israeli soldiers, with a salient Justice and Development Party (AK Party) member among those who responded to her on social media.

“The racist and sexist rhetoric targeting our Member of Parliament Burcugul Cubuk through social media by that insolent male mindset will be held accountable before the judiciary,” DEM Party said in a statement.

“We will never allow the normalization of this language that contains hatred and discrimination toward female politicians,” it added.

The developments came as DEM Party lawmaker Cubuk said in a Tuesday video on X that Turkish security forces had blocked her and others from entering streets near the area where the summit was set to be held, and described them as “Israeli soldiers.”

The comments sparked outrage on social media, including from prominent politicians and other users.

“You cannot stop NATO opponents this way. You are soldiers of Israel, you are soldiers of America. We are also humans,” Cubuk said during an argument with security forces.

“Right now, you are preventing even us MPs from walking in the streets of Ankara. You’ve shut off every direction, you raided us, you’ve obstructed everyone,” she said.

Several organizations, communities, and political and civil groups have held protests in Ankara and Istanbul in recent weeks ahead of the NATO summit, with demonstrations continuing Tuesday and Wednesday against Turkey’s human rights and free speech violations, as Ankara carries out a wave of so-called anti-terror raids and arrests hundreds of people.

Among those opposing the DEM Party lawmaker’s comments was Ibrahim Melih Gokcek, Ankara’s longtime former mayor and an AK Party figure known for his conservative views.

“I spit on that woman’s statement for calling the Turkish police ‘Israeli soldiers,’” he wrote on X, while using a derogatory term for Cubuk.

“This woman needs to be stripped of her Turkish citizenship,” he added.

In late June, a Turkish media watchdog reported that several journalists, academics, environmental activists, and the editor of an LGBT+ media outlet are among the over 200 people who have been arrested in Ankara ahead of an upcoming NATO summit in the capital.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the repression, arguing that exploiting anti-terror legislation to carry out mass detentions and suppress dissent ahead of the NATO summit contradicts the alliance’s core principles.

According to Reporters Without Borders' 2026 World Press Freedom Index, Turkey ranks 163rd of 180 countries for media freedom, with the watchdog noting that 90 percent of national media outlets are under government control and that there is “near-systematic censorship of the internet.”