Turkey Detains Dozens in Nationwide Anti-LGBTQ Raids Targeting Rights Groups

Turkish security forces carried out coordinated operations across the country on Sunday, targeting LGBTQ organizations, gay venues, and private residences in major cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Mersin. The raids have intensified a long-standing government campaign against queer groups, with Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announcing that prosecutors are investigating 162 suspects, nine associations, and 13 commercial entities.

According to reports from Anadolu Agency, at least 63 individuals were taken into custody. Gurlek framed the initiative, dubbed the “My Family is Safe” operation, as an enforcement of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10-year “Decade of Family and Population” strategy, which prioritizes reversing Turkey’s declining birthrate. Writing on social media platform X, the minister stated that the state has a constitutional obligation to shield children and families from what he characterized as criminal organizations and illegal activities.

The targeted entities included prominent rights advocates such as Kaos GL, an organization focused on LGBTQ rights and HIV awareness whose website had been blocked just days prior to the police action. Kaos GL reported that nearly 50 of its members and allies have been detained or are undergoing interrogation. Judicial authorities in Ankara specifically accused the group of distributing online content deemed obscene and accessible to minors.

Human rights advocates and international observers have strongly criticized the move. The Turkish Human Rights Association condemned the operation on X, describing it as state-led discrimination and an effort to dismantle civil society under the guise of public order. Similarly, Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, labeled the detentions a “shocking escalation in the repression” of the community.

This crackdown follows a history of restrictions on LGBTQ gatherings in Turkey. Since 2015, when the ruling AK Party banned the Istanbul Pride march for the fifth consecutive time, any attempts by activists to hold public demonstrations have been met with forceful dispersal by authorities.