Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to attack what he described as a global campaign promoting “gender neutrality,” days after Turkish authorities launched sweeping raids targeting LGBTQ+ organizations, activists and venues across the country.
“The global policy of promoting gender neutrality has turned into a siege directed against innocent children and the institution of the family,” Erdogan said, according to the remarks reported by ynet. “We will only be able to break this siege by protecting the family made up of a woman and a man.”
Erdogan defends LGBTQ+ crackdown at UN: ‘Children and the family are under siege’
He said Turkey would continue initiatives aimed at protecting families and children despite criticism from what he described as pressure groups.The speech came little more than a week after authorities launched the operation known as “My Family Is Safe,” targeting LGBTQ+ rights organizations, groups supporting people living with HIV and businesses across Turkey. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said judicial proceedings had been opened against 162 people, nine associations and 13 businesses in operations spanning 15 provinces.
Human Rights Watch said police arrested at least 112 people during coordinated raids from Sept. 12 to 14, with 82 still detained under court order as of Sept. 18. More than 100 demonstrators protesting the campaign were also detained, according to the organization.
The raids targeted groups and venues in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın and Mersin. Turkish authorities said the investigation involved suspected offenses including prostitution, obscenity and activities they alleged improperly exposed children to material involving sexual orientation or gender identity. Rights organizations have rejected the government's framing and accused authorities of using criminal investigations to marginalize LGBTQ+ people and suppress civil society.
Authorities also blocked websites and social media accounts belonging to some targeted groups, according to rights organizations. Gürlek said the operation was being carried out in line with Erdogan’s “2026-2035 Family and Population Decade,” a government initiative presented as a response to Turkey’s declining birth rate and aging population.
Erdogan has increasingly made opposition to what he calls “gender neutrality” and LGBTQ+ movements part of his family policy. Earlier this year, he said Turkey was taking measures against “gender-neutrality impositions and LGBT movements” as he warned that the country’s fertility rate had fallen to 1.48 children per woman.
(Photo: AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Turkish Human Rights Association and other rights groups have condemned the raids. Human Rights Watch described the operation as an attempt to criminalize LGBTQ+ people and silence organizations defending their rights, and called for the release of those detained without credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Turkey does not criminalize same-sex relationships, but LGBTQ+ organizations and public events have faced growing restrictions in recent years. Istanbul Pride, which once drew tens of thousands of participants, has been banned since 2015, and authorities have repeatedly broken up subsequent attempts to hold Pride demonstrations.
Erdogan’s remarks at the UN echoed themes he has raised there before. In his 2024 General Assembly address, he described efforts toward gender neutrality as a “global imposition” and said Turkey was determined to defend what he called the traditional family structure.
Erdogan renews criticism of Israel
Erdogan also used Tuesday’s speech to renew his criticism of Israel over the war in Gaza, calling on countries that have not recognized a Palestinian state to reconsider their positions and urging greater international pressure on Israel.
He described Gaza in highly charged terms, while other reporting from Tuesday’s General Assembly quoted him as calling the territory “the world’s largest graveyard for children.”
According to the remarks reported by ynet, Erdogan called Gaza “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time” and said anyone with “humanity, compassion, mercy, a sense of justice and conscience” could not ignore events there.
Israel has rejected accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza and says its military operations target Hamas and other terrorist organizations rather than Palestinian civilians.
Erdogan also criticized the United States for preventing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from traveling to New York for the General Assembly, saying the decision was an injustice against Palestinians.
As Erdogan began his address, members of the Israeli delegation left the hall in protest, according to the ynet report.