Turkish authorities have launched a sweeping crackdown on LGBTQ organizations and activists, detaining dozens of people in raids on advocacy offices, private homes and nightlife venues in what appears to be a further escalation in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly hostile policies toward the LGBTQ community.
The operation, code-named “My Family is Safe,” began early Sunday as police raided targets in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin.
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At least 47 detained as Turkey launches nationwide raids targeting LGBTQ community
(Photo: AP, shutterstock)
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on social media that authorities had opened investigations into 162 suspects, nine organizations and 13 businesses, including gay bars and a men’s bathhouse. At least 47 people were detained.
Gürlek said the operation was intended to “protect children, the institution of the family and public order,” in accordance with a presidential decree issued by Erdogan roughly a decade ago.
The raids targeted current and former activists affiliated with several prominent LGBTQ rights organizations and groups working to raise awareness of HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS if left untreated.
Authorities also blocked the websites and social media accounts of several organizations.
Turkish prosecutors said drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and firearms were seized during the operation. They also alleged that evidence showed children and teenagers had been improperly influenced on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Gürlek further alleged that LGBTQ organizations were receiving substantial funding from international agencies.
Police block a nightclub during the arrest operation earlier this week
(Photo: AFP/ DHA (Demiroren News Agency))
Turkey’s Human Rights Association condemned the raids, calling them a political campaign rather than a legitimate criminal investigation.
“This is not a judicial investigation, but a political operation aimed at imposing a single model of the family on society and purging the LGBTQ+ community and independent civil society under the pretext of protecting families and children,” the group said.
It accused authorities of using unrelated allegations including “forming a criminal organization,” drugs, prostitution and obscenity “not to uncover the truth, but to criminalize the entire community.”
Erdogan’s expanding campaign against LGBTQ rights
Analysts say Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, a religiously conservative Islamist party, has steadily intensified its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in an effort to appeal to more conservative segments of its electoral base.
The government banned Istanbul’s Pride march in 2015 after previous events had attracted tens of thousands of participants. In the years since, police have repeatedly broken up attempts to hold Pride gatherings, at times using force.
LGBTQ protesters flee police during Pride Month in June; marches that once drew tens of thousands have been banned
(Photo: AP/ Dilara Acikgoz, File)
This summer, Turkey also refused entry to an LGBTQ cruise ship that had previously docked in the country on numerous occasions while sailing through the Mediterranean.
The latest operation comes as Erdogan promotes his “Decade of the Family and Population” initiative, designed to address Turkey’s falling birth rate and aging population.
Erdogan has previously described LGBTQ people as “perverts” and blamed them for the country’s declining birth rate.
LGBTQ and women’s rights activists are also among the most prominent groups opposing Erdogan’s Islamist government, which has ruled Turkey since 2002.
Europe condemns ‘shocking escalation’
Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Turkey, described the mass arrests as a “shocking escalation” of the crackdown.
“Imposing such a moral agenda constitutes a blatant violation of fundamental rights and Turkey’s international obligations, and is leading the country down a dark path,” he wrote on X.
Özgül Saki, a Turkish lawmaker from the left-wing pro-Kurdish DEM Party, also condemned the operation.
“A person’s existence cannot be banned or restricted,” she wrote. “LGBTQ rights are human rights!”
The Ottoman Empire, from which the modern Turkish republic emerged, decriminalized same-sex relations as early as 1858. Modern Turkey, however, continues to see widespread discrimination and hostility toward LGBTQ people.