Turkey carried out a police operation across several regions of the country this weekend targeting LGBTI+ organisations, resulting in the detention of dozens of activists and searches at various establishments frequented by the community. The social media accounts of several activists were also blocked.
Turkey’s Justice Minister, Akin Gürlek, announced on Sunday on the social media platform X that, as part of the operation known as “My Family Is Safe”, legal proceedings had been initiated against 162 people, nine associations and 13 establishments across 15 provinces in the country. According to the minister, the operation targets individuals suspected of “facilitating prostitution” and “producing and distributing obscene content to which children may have access”.
The operation comes amid growing repression of the LGBTI+ community in Turkey and during the so-called “Decade of the Family and Population”, promoted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The period, which runs from 2026 to 2035, was presented by the Turkish Government as an initiative aimed at addressing declining birth rates and an ageing population, as well as strengthening the protection of the traditional family.
When announcing the initiative last year, Erdoğan also directed strong criticism at the LGBTI+ community, stating that they “are trying to hack the family” and that, “in the name of individual freedoms and modernity”, the moral values that had sustained Turkish society for centuries were being “undermined and devalued”. On the same occasion, the Turkish president stated that “family and population are not issues that can be confined to a single year”, advocating a long-term strategy to address demographic changes and what he described as “global pressures on the institution of the family”.
“For this reason, we declare the period from 2026 to 2035 as the ‘Decade of the Family and Population’,” Erdoğan stated.
ILGA-Europe condemned the operation, stating in a press release: “This is not law enforcement. It is the systematic dismantling of LGBTI civil society. LGBTI organisation is not a crime. Human rights work is not a crime.”
The organisation called on the European Union and European governments to raise these issues “urgently” with the Turkish authorities, monitor the detentions and legal proceedings, and activate available protection, legal support and emergency measures for those affected.
ILGA-Europe also called on LGBTI+ organisations and their allies to amplify the movement’s appeals in Turkey, put pressure on their respective governments and European institutions, and mobilise practical support whenever requested. “Solidarity must now translate into political pressure and concrete support,” the organisation argued, while simultaneously emphasising the need to respect the guidance and security needs of those directly affected.
This is not the first recent action against the LGBTI+ community in the country. In June this year, Turkish authorities had already blocked the accounts of LGBTI+ associations and activists, shut down one of Istanbul’s oldest gay bars, and banned the planned stops of a cruise carrying around 2,700 LGBTI+ people.
The current operation therefore comes within a broader context of restrictions on LGBTI+ rights and growing pressure on civil society organisations working to defend human rights in Turkey.
This article was originally published in Portuguese by dezanove.pt publication.
Photo: epicimages / Depositphotos
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