A widespread government operation across 12 Turkish provinces has resulted in the detention of at least 47 LGBTQ+ activists and community members, with raids targeting prominent queer advocacy groups, gay venues, and private homes, sparking widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
The crackdown, carried out over the weekend, is framed as part of the ruling government’s ‘My Family is Safe’ initiative, launched to uphold what state officials describe as traditional Turkish family values. The operation also aligns with the administration’s broader ‘Decade of the Family’ campaign, launched to reverse declining national birth rates.
One of the primary targets of the raids was Kaos GL, one of Turkey’s oldest and most prominent LGBTQ+ rights associations. Official statements from prosecutors confirm that 26 people were detained in Istanbul, while an additional 21 were taken into custody in Ankara as part of an investigation into the organization. Kaos GL has pushed back on official counts, asserting that the actual number of detained activists exceeds 50, with more than 10 arrested during early-morning raids on their private residences.
Alongside detentions, Turkish authorities have taken steps to censor queer organizing online: they have blocked multiple websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ+ groups, and have formally requested that X (formerly Twitter) shut down Kaos GL’s account as well as accounts belonging to roughly 15 other queer advocacy organizations. State officials have accused Kaos GL of posting obscene content accessible to minors, a claim rights groups dismiss as a baseless pretense for targeting the community.
Authorities added that during the raids, law enforcement seized illegal drugs, unregistered digital equipment, smuggled alcohol, and an unlicensed firearm from the targeted locations. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced that legal proceedings have already been launched against more than 160 individuals and multiple organizations and businesses across the country as part of the broader campaign, though he declined to confirm full detention numbers.
This crackdown marks a further escalation of systemic targeting of Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community. Same-sex relations have been decriminalized in Turkey for decades, but same-sex marriage remains unrecognized, and systemic and social homophobia is widespread. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly publicly stigmatized LGBTQ+ people, describing them as ‘perverts’ and falsely blaming the community for Turkey’s falling birth rate. Previous attempts by queer activists to hold public pride parades have been met with consistent aggression, with riot police regularly dispersing gatherings and chasing participants.
Turkey’s leading human rights groups have rejected the government’s framing of the operation, saying the ‘My Family is Safe’ campaign is nothing more than a cover for institutionalized discrimination. ‘The real name of this operation is not ‘My Family is Safe’; it is state-led discrimination, politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society,’ the Turkish Human Rights Association said in a post on X. The association added that the government has used the family values campaign to systematically target queer communities for years, eroding civil society space and further marginalizing already vulnerable minority groups.