Turkish authorities have detained more than 100 people protesting a sweeping crackdown on LGBTQ+ organisations, as courts begin jailing activists arrested during nationwide raids.
At least 126 protesters were detained in Istanbul and Ankara on Tuesday, 15 September, after gathering to demand the release of LGBTQ+ activists arrested days earlier.
The demonstrations followed coordinated raids on LGBTQ+ organisations, activists’ homes and queer venues across Turkey under a government operation called “My Family Is Safe”.
The crackdown has now moved beyond the initial raids, with members of prominent LGBTQ+ organisation Kaos GL among those jailed pending trial.
Protesters Detained Outside Istanbul Courthouse
In Istanbul, demonstrators gathered outside the Çağlayan courthouse carrying a banner reading “Being LGBTQ Is Not A Crime.”
They chanted for the release of those detained during the earlier raids, with slogans including “Long live the struggle for freedom” and “Despite hatred, long live life”.
Police had been monitoring the demonstration and moved in after warning that the gathering was unauthorised.
Dozens were taken away, along with journalists covering the protest.
Demonstrations also took place in Ankara, where further detentions were made.
Reuters reported a combined 126 protesters were detained across the two cities.
The protests came after authorities raided LGBTQ+ organisations, bars and homes in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Mersin and other areas over the weekend.
Kaos GL Members Jailed Pending Trial
The crackdown has also resulted in activists being placed in pre-trial detention.
On 16 September, a Turkish court ordered eight members of Kaos GL to remain jailed while investigations continue.
Seven others connected with the organisation, including a journalist, were released under judicial supervision.
Prosecutors have accused people targeted in the wider operation of offences including obscenity and promoting or facilitating prostitution.
Those allegations have not been proven in court.
Authorities have also blocked access to LGBTQ+ websites, media platforms and social media accounts during the crackdown.
Government Says It Is Protecting ‘Family Values’
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek says the wider operation involves 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.
The government says the investigations are intended to protect children, families and public order.
They form part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wider “Decade of Family and Population” programme, which has been promoted as a response to Turkey’s declining birth rate and ageing population.
Erdoğan and senior members of his government have increasingly presented LGBTQ+ identities as being in conflict with their definition of traditional family values.
Same-sex relationships themselves are legal in Turkey.
However, Pride marches have repeatedly been banned, LGBTQ+ events restricted and queer organisations subjected to growing legal and political pressure.
Human-Rights Groups Condemn Escalation
Rights organisations argue the current operation goes significantly further.
The Turkish Human Rights Association has characterised the raids as state-led discrimination and an attack on civil society.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty has also raised concerns about the detentions and called for people held solely for legitimate human-rights and civil-society work to be released.
He warned that protecting the family should not be used as justification for restricting fundamental rights.
The European Commission has also said it is closely monitoring the situation.
For LGBTQ+ organisations, the concern is not simply the number of arrests.
Offices have been searched, websites blocked, activists detained and organisations drawn into criminal investigations simultaneously.
A Rapidly Widening Crackdown
The operation has escalated quickly.
What began with raids on queer venues, organisations and private homes has now expanded into mass detentions of people protesting those raids.
Some of the original detainees have since been jailed pending trial, while further investigations remain active.
Turkey’s government maintains that the operation is focused on alleged criminal activity rather than LGBTQ+ identity itself.
Rights groups dispute that distinction, pointing to the scale of the operation, its focus on queer organisations and the government’s explicit framing around LGBTQ+ people and “family values”.
For Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community, the consequences are already substantial.
People are in custody, civil-society organisations are under investigation, online spaces have been blocked and demonstrators calling for their release have themselves been detained.
