(Bloomberg) -- Turkish authorities are escalating a years-long crackdown against perceived critics in the run up to this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, in a show of intolerance toward dissent.

Police detained Turkish journalists Buse Sogutlu and Ceren Erdogdu over the weekend, along with dozens of academics and lawyers. Istanbul’s chief prosecutor’s office said the detentions were part of an operation against a banned leftist group.

Comedian Deniz Goktas, whose recent stand-up special drew 11 million views on YouTube, was arrested last week on allegations including insulting the president. He denies the allegations and has been sent to a high-security prison. 

That means criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his heavy-handed methods isn’t likely to be widely expressed. Even the European Union, which Turkey has been vying unsuccessfully to become a member of for decades, has delivered a muted response. 

Still, when taking questions from the media, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte highlighted the exclusion of local journalists who Turkish authorities had blocked from attending. “Democracy is also the free media,” he said, after delivering remarks to open the summit, adding, “and when it comes to the media, it is very important for NATO that media can attend major events in person.”

Dozens of Turkish journalists, mostly from mainstream and opposition outlets, have been denied accreditation to cover the summit. NATO said it deferred to the Turkish government’s assessments of the journalists in question. 

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s most prominent opponent who was detained last year on alleged corruption charges, is standing trial in three separate cases on Monday. In May, a court ousted Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. 

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“As Turkey hosts the NATO Summit, its democratic future is being shaped in a Silivri courtroom,” Nacho Sanchez Amor, European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, said on Sunday, referring to the giant prison complex on the outskirts of Istanbul. “The EU must not keep its eyes only on Ankara.” 

The Turkish Journalists’ Association said in a statement it was concerned about the detention of its colleagues ahead of the summit. The group said the crackdown threatens the public’s right to information and undermines press and expression freedoms. 

Erdogan is scheduled to meet Rutte on Monday, followed by a meeting with Trump the next day. 

(Updates with comments from Rutte’s press conference in 6th paragraph.)

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