Turkey Escalates Nationwide Crackdown on LGBTQ Community

Turkish authorities have detained dozens of people in a nationwide operation targeting LGBTQ organisations, activists, businesses and venues. Police raids were conducted on Sunday in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Mersin, including searches of gay bars, organisational offices and activists’ homes. State news agency Anadolu reported that at least 63 people were detained, while Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors were investigating 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses. The operation, named “My Family is Safe,” was presented by the government as an effort to protect children, families and public order. Gurlek linked the raids to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “Decade of Family and Population” executive order, which seeks to address Turkiye’s declining birthrate. Authorities accused LGBTQ rights and HIV-awareness organisations of publishing obscene material accessible to children and described the investigation as targeting alleged criminal or illegal activity. Kaos GL, one of the organisations searched, said that nearly 50 LGBTQ rights defenders had either been detained or placed under legal proceedings involving interrogations or detention. The group’s offices were searched, while the websites of several LGBTQ and HIV-awareness organisations had been blocked days earlier. Human rights groups and European officials condemned the raids as a sharp escalation in state repression and discrimination against LGBTQ people and civil society. The Turkish Human Rights Association said the operation represented “state-led discrimination” and the use of fear to dismantle civil society. Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkiye, also condemned the detentions. The raids follow years of increasing restrictions, including the banning of Istanbul Pride in 2015 and the violent dispersal of subsequent attempted gatherings.

France 24 reports that Turkish police carried out a series of raids on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists on Sunday, resulting in dozens of arrests. The report provides few operational details about the raids, including the number of people detained, their identities, the locations involved, or the legal grounds cited for the arrests. It presents the actions in the context of a government initiative promoted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the “Decade of the Family.” Authorities said the initiative is intended to protect children, preserve the institution of the family, and maintain social order. The arrests and raids represent a significant escalation in pressure on LGBTQ people and activists in Turkey, where authorities have increasingly used public-order and morality-based arguments to restrict LGBTQ events and expression. The report’s wording contrasts the government’s stated rationale with the affected community’s identity and activities, although it does not include comments from detained individuals, LGBTQ organizations, lawyers, or international rights groups. It also does not specify whether the raids were connected to a particular event, investigation, or alleged offense. The overall presentation is concise and news-focused, emphasizing the scale of the arrests and the official explanation for the police operation. The available material is primarily a video headline and short accompanying text rather than a full written report, so it offers limited context about the broader political and legal situation. Nonetheless, the central development is clear: Turkish authorities conducted coordinated raids targeting LGBTQ-associated venues and activists’ residences amid a state-backed campaign emphasizing traditional family values and social order.

Turkish police conducted coordinated raids on September 13 targeting gay bars, a nightclub, a men’s hammam and the homes and offices of LGBTQ activists across 15 provinces. Officials said the operations were part of the government’s “My Family is Safe” campaign and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s broader “Decade of the Family” initiative, which authorities describe as an effort to protect children, traditional family values and social order. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said legal proceedings had begun against 162 suspects, nine organisations and 13 companies. Prosecutors in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir said at least 63 people had been detained, while LGBTQ rights group Kaos GL said nearly 50 rights defenders had either been detained or subjected to interrogations and other legal proceedings. The targets included Kaos GL’s offices and its leaders. Authorities accused the organisation of publishing “obscene” material on its website and social media channels that could be accessed by children. The raids followed the blocking of the social-media accounts of more than a dozen Turkish LGBTQ organisations on X, reportedly at the request of the authorities. LGBTQ and women’s rights activists are among the principal centres of opposition to Turkey’s Islamist-rooted conservative government, which has been in power since 2002. Although same-sex relations are not criminalised in Turkey, homophobia remains widespread and the LGBTQ community has frequently faced government hostility. Erdogan has described LGBTQ people as a “deviant movement” and blamed them for the country’s declining birth rate. Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, called the arrests a “shocking escalation” of repression and said the government’s moral agenda violated fundamental rights and Turkey’s international commitments. Turkish opposition MP Ozgul Saki also condemned the campaign, stating that LGBTQ rights are human rights.