Turkey’s LGBTQ+ crackdown has led to the detention of 162 people in a nationwide operation targeting activists, organisations and businesses, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government intensifies its campaign to promote traditional family structures amid concern over the country’s declining birth rate.
Police conducted raids across 12 provinces over the weekend under the government’s “My Family is Safe” campaign, which authorities say is designed to protect family values and children. The operation targeted gay bars, LGBTQ+ activists, members and former members of rights organisations, as well as websites and social media accounts associated with the community.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said legal proceedings had been launched against 162 suspects, along with nine associations and 13 businesses. Authorities cited allegations including pornography and the production of obscene material.
In Istanbul, the chief prosecutor’s office said police detained 26 people and seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a firearm during the raids. In Ankara, prosecutors said another 21 people were arrested in an investigation involving Kaos GL, one of Turkey’s best-known LGBTQ+ rights organisations.
Kaos GL said the number of activists detained included at least 50 people, with 10 arrested during searches of their homes. The organisation also reported that access to dozens of websites and social media accounts belonging to LGBTQ+ organisations and activists had been blocked.
The Human Rights Association in Turkey condemned the operation, arguing that the government was using criminal allegations to pursue a broader political campaign against LGBTQ+ people and independent civil society groups.
The organisation said the operation was intended to push society towards a single model of family life and described the use of allegations involving organised crime, drugs, prostitution and obscenity as an attempt to associate the wider LGBTQ+ community with criminal activity.
The crackdown comes as Erdogan’s government places population growth and family policy higher on its political agenda. The administration’s “Decade of Family and Population” initiative seeks to respond to Turkey’s falling birth rate while encouraging marriage, parenthood and what the government describes as traditional family values.
Erdogan has repeatedly spoken against LGBTQ+ rights and has previously connected what he sees as the erosion of traditional family structures with Turkey’s demographic decline. His government has increasingly framed population policy as a matter of national concern, with LGBTQ+ issues becoming part of a wider political debate over family and social values.
Authorities have also alleged that children were being improperly influenced on questions concerning sexual orientation and gender identity. Those allegations, like the other accusations made against detainees and targeted organisations, have not been established in court.
The arrests have drawn criticism beyond Turkey. Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, described the operation as a serious escalation in the pressure facing LGBTQ+ people and civil society. He said the government’s attempt to impose a moral agenda violated fundamental rights and Turkey’s international commitments.
The operation also highlights the increasingly difficult environment faced by LGBTQ+ organisations in Turkey. Same-sex sexual activity remains legal in the country, but rights groups have for years reported discrimination, restrictions on public events and growing political hostility towards LGBTQ+ people.
The latest raids go further by bringing activists, businesses, online platforms and civil society organisations into the same investigation. For rights groups, that raises concerns that criminal proceedings are being used not only against individuals accused of specific offences but also against organisations working on LGBTQ+ rights.
The Turkish government’s position is that the campaign is about protecting children and the family rather than criminalising sexual orientation. But the scale of the operation, the number of people detained and the targeting of rights organisations have intensified concerns among activists and European officials that Turkey’s family policy is becoming a vehicle for wider restrictions on LGBTQ+ expression and independent civil society.
For those detained, the immediate question will be whether the allegations lead to formal charges and prosecutions. For the organisations targeted, the raids and reported blocking of online accounts could further restrict their ability to operate and communicate with supporters.
The government’s demographic concerns are unlikely to disappear, given Turkey’s declining birth rate. But the response has now placed family policy, LGBTQ+ rights and the limits of state power at the centre of a renewed confrontation between the Turkish government and rights organisations.
