Raids targeting LGBTQ+ activists and organizations took place in Turkey over the weekend. Several people were arrested by the Turkish authorities and many social media accounts were blocked. The Turkish government’s actions have drawn sharp criticism from across the country and also from Brussels.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced the operation as part of the “Decade of Family and Population” scheme, a national strategy proclaimed in May 2025 that was to counter the drastic decline in the country’s birthrate and strengthen the traditional, conservative family view in Turkey.
On Tuesday, Istanbul saw demonstrations again. Turkish LGBTQ+ associations emphasized in a joint declaration that it wasn’t a crime to set up an association and advocate for rights.
“Freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, protection of privacy and presumption of innocence apply to LGBTQ+ people as well,” the declaration stated.
The LGBTQ+ community also received support from the women’s movement. 120 women’s rights organizations signed a joint declaration in which they criticized authoritarianism in Turkey.
“As women, we stand against the operations carried out in the name of ‘keeping the family safe.’ We know that the repression of our bodies, our lives, our identities, and our right to organize is part of the same authoritarian politics. Being [LGBTQ+] is not a crime! Organizing as [LGBTQ+] people is not a crime!”, the organizations stated.
‘The aim is criminalization’
The government is trying to criminalize the LGBTQ+ community, says Yildiz Taghizade of Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR), an organization that co-signed the declaration. This criminalization did not just start with the operations of the past few days, but had already been going on for a few years, according to Taghizade.
“The aim is not only to target LGBTQ+ people, but to practically ban the LGBTQ+ community from engaging in politics, getting organized, claiming rights and showing presence in the public sphere,” Taghizade said.
It was no coincidence that the operation came with the slogan “My family is safe.”
“The government is trying to justify its actions by invoking the protection of families and children, but this narrative doesn’t work. Because when we look at Turkey today and what is actually a factor of uncertainty for families, we come across very concrete issues such as poverty, the housing crisis, unemployment, care work [caring for and tending to relatives, the ed.] passed on to women, and male violence against women,” Taghizade said.
Criticism from medical community, trade associations, politicians
Other organizations also criticized the government’s actions. The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) described them as a violation of human rights, demanding an end to the politics of discrimination. It was unacceptable, it said, to treat gender identity and sexual orientation as a crime, take people out of their homes at night and block digital channels — all in the name of family protection and security.
The chairman of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP), Erkan Bas, called for the immediate release of those arrested, arguing that the mere existence of LGBTQ+ persons was no crime.
But all those who did not share the government’s views were “‘called to order’ by judiciary, truncheon and censorship. If they had their way, they’d love nothing more than to enshrine the criminal offense of ‘being an opponent of the government’ by law and sit back,” Bas said.
In the name of ‘national security’
The raids took place on Sunday in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Over the weekend, numerous websites and social media accounts belonging to LGBTQ+ groups, various organizations and activists were blocked. On the day of the raids, another 32 accounts were suspended. On the following day, the number of blocked accounts reached a total of more than 100.
Among those affected were Amnesty International Turkey, the left-leaning Evrensel newspaper, the Academics for Peace initiative, the Lawyers for Justice association, the women’s rights organization Mor Dayanisma, the LGBTQ+ rights group Kaos GL and the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
The legal basis was a ruling by an Istanbul court announced on September 13. The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bakirkoy justified the suspensions by citing investigations into accounts that had spread “obscene content and LGBTQ+ propaganda.”
According to several media outlets, the accounts were also blocked on grounds of “national security.”
Critics called the move digital censorship.
Homosexuality not a criminal offense
Homosexual relationships are not a criminal offense in Turkey. However, the Turkish government had repeatedly referred to the LGBTQ+ community as a movement of “perverts.”
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek had previously accused LGBTQ+ organizations of “promoting immorality.” He declared in a social media post that “no criminal organization, abuse network or illegal activity which targets children, youths or families will be tolerated.”
EU: stigmatization incompatible with our values
The EU expressed concern as well.
Commission Spokesperson Christian Wigand pointed out that Turkey, as an EU accession candidate, “should promote and ensure respect for the human rights and dignity of all individuals, irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation.” He added that “stigmatization and discrimination are contrary to the values of the union.”
Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director at Human Rights Watch, interpreted the arrests as proof of the government’s intention to criminalize LGBTQ+ persons without enacting new laws.
This article was translated from German.
