Turkish authorities cracked down on several LGBT groups and individuals early Sunday morning, arresting dozens of members, storming the association’s offices and raiding popular hangouts.
In an escalation of its decade-long hostility towards LGBT groups, particularly in the run-up to the elections, there were simultaneous police raids starting at 1 a.m. in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin.
Justice Minister Akin Gorlik announced on social media that the investigation into 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 companies aims to “protect children, the family institution and public order” in line with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 10-year executive order regarding families and children.
“Under the duty to protect families and children granted by the Constitution to the State, any criminal organization, exploitation network or illegal activity targeting children, youth or families will not be tolerated!” Gorelick said.
The raids targeted current and former members of several LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups. The organizations’ websites were also blocked.
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Gorlick also noted that such associations receive significant funding from international sources and agencies.
The Human Rights Association condemned the raids. “This is not a judicial investigation; it is a political process aimed at forcing society into a homogeneous family model and purging the LGBT community and independent civil society under the guise of protecting families and children,” she said.
“The inclusion of irrelevant charges such as ‘formation of a criminal organisation’, ‘drugs’, ‘prostitution’ and ‘obscenity’ does not lead to revealing the truth but rather to criminalizing the entire community.”
The religiously conservative AKP has been increasingly vocal against LGBTQ+ groups to manipulate the more conservative elements of its base. In 2015, it banned the Istanbul Pride parade, which had tens of thousands of attendees in previous years. Since then, the authorities have violently dispersed any attempt at a Pride gathering.
This summer, an LGBTQ+ cruise ship that tours the Mediterranean and has docked in Türkiye several times in the past was denied permission to dock there.
The Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of the modern Republic of Türkiye, decriminalized homosexuality in 1858, but significant social discrimination remains.
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