Turkish authorities launch sweeping crackdown on LGBTQ+ community
Authorities in Turkey have launched an unprecedented crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community, arresting and detaining hundreds of journalists, campaigners, HIV organisations and members of the public.
Those arrested have faced charges of "obscenity", "assisting prostitution" and having "financial links abroad", while the government and its supporters have pushed a narrative of protecting family values.
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek says legal proceedings have been started against more than 160 people and organisations across the country.
The arrests centered on five provinces and spanned a total of 15 provinces.
A major target was Kaos GL, Turkey's most prominent LGBTQ+ organisation, which the Ankara chief prosecutor's office said had seen 21 arrests as part of an investigation. Journalist Tugba Tekerek was detained over a single article she wrote for Kaos GL's news portal about the LGBTQ+ community in Georgia.
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Speaking to Middle East Eye from Istanbul's Caglayan Courthouse, where a number of hearings were taking place on Tuesday, Kaos GL editor-in-chief Yildiz Tar said that he had never seen such an expansive crackdown.
He said while half of those arrested were journalists and campaigners, the other half was composed of ordinary people who were taken during raids on gay bars and cafes, or from their homes.
'The main thing they are saying or trying to say is that the very existence of LGBTQ people and their visilibity is an obscene thing'
- Yildiz Tar, Kaos GL
"This is a new level of oppression toward LGBTQ activism and existence - and the government is trying to get people to say LGBTQ people are trying to destroy the family," he said.
Tar himself spent four months in prison last year over allegations of membership of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and a further month in prison in 2026 over membership of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (TKP/ML), both of which he denies.
Currently now under pre-trial conditions and banned from travelling, Tar said during his incarceration that he was never asked about his involvement in either of the banned groups - only about his work on LGBTQ+ issues.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey - and social attitudes vary - but the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has increasingly targeted the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier this year that 2026 onward would be the "Decade of the Family". The most recent crackdown has been branded the "My Family is Safe" operation by the government.
"The main thing they are saying or trying to say is that the very existence of LGBTQ people and their visilibity is an obscene thing," said Tar.
"The real threat to the family is poverty, lack of social policies, the threat is femicide, and they are trying to cover that lack of policies by demonising LGBTQ people."
'In defiance of hate'
A further 150 people were detained on Tuesday outside Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse while protesting against the crackdown.
Protesters could be heard chanting "Long live life in defiance of hate" as police moved in.
A wide range of social media accounts have also been blocked in Turkey over the past few days.
On Monday, at the request of the Turkish authorities, X blocked the accounts of Amnesty International Turkey, the left-wing Evrensel newspaper, Academics for Peace, and the Media and Law Studies Association.
Accounts and websites belong to Kaos GL, prominent human rights lawyer Levent Piskin and women's rights organisation Mor Dayanisma were also blocked.
Both domestic and international bodies have criticised the anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown in Turkey since it was launched over the weekend.
The Turkish Human Rights Association described the operation as "state-led discrimination, politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society," while Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur, called the arrests "a shocking escalation" of repression.
Meanwhile, the left-wing Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) also criticised the crackdown, warning it could undermine the ongoing negotations between the government and the PKK.
“The language of peace cannot stand side by side with the practice of repression,” DEM said in a statement on Tuesday.
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