Turkish law enforcement authorities have launched a sweeping, nationwide crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists, organisations, and commercial venues, initiating legal proceedings against 162 individuals across multiple provinces.
The operations—carried out across major cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin, and Mersin—were executed under the government’s “My Family is Safe” initiative.
Authorities state the campaign is intended to safeguard traditional moral values and address demographic concerns.
Coordinated raids and digital censorship
Police operations targeted gay bars, private residences, and civil society offices. In Istanbul, officers searched entertainment venues and a traditional hammam. Law enforcement reported seizing digital media equipment, firearms, uncustomed alcohol, and controlled substances during the raids.
Concurrently, access to social media accounts and digital platforms associated with more than a dozen LGBTQ+ organisations was blocked by court order.
Leading rights organisation Kaos GL reported that its headquarters were searched, several of its leaders taken into custody, and its primary communication channels targeted for censorship.
Legal allegations and state narrative
Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek confirmed that judicial proceedings have been initiated against 162 suspects, nine non-governmental organisations, and 13 commercial enterprises.
State prosecutors allege the targeted groups were involved in spreading obscenity accessible to minors, operating prostitution networks, and receiving unregulated foreign funding.
“Under the state’s constitutional obligation to protect the family unit and children, no illegal network targeting our social fabric will be tolerated,” Gürlek stated on social media.
The operations align with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s broader “Decade of Family and Population” agenda.
Erdoğan has repeatedly used hostile rhetoric against LGBTQ+ citizens, publicly linking non-traditional sexual orientations to Turkey’s declining birth rate.
Human rights groups and international backlash
Human rights monitoring groups and opposition leaders have strongly repudiated the government’s actions, characterising the raids as a politically motivated assault on civil society.
The Turkish Human Rights Association issued a formal statement condemning the operations: “This is not a legitimate judicial process; it is a political operation designed to enforce a monolithic family model and dismantle independent civil society under the guise of child protection. Combining unrelated criminal allegations serves to incriminate an entire community.”
International bodies have also voiced sharp concern. Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, described the Crackdown as a severe retreat from fundamental rights and international legal commitments.
Although same-sex relationships have been legal in Turkey since the late Ottoman period (1858), public gatherings such as Istanbul Pride have been banned since 2015, with state authorities progressively tightening restrictions on LGBTQ+ advocacy. None of the recent allegations brought against the detained activists or organisations has yet been proven in court.
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