Turkish authorities detain 47 in crackdown on LGBTQ associations
ISTANBUL — Turkish authorities have detained at least 47 people following a series of raids on the offices of LGBTQ associations in a probe into prostitution and obscenity, prosecutors said, reports BritPanorama.
The crackdown is part of a campaign that the government claims is aimed at protecting family values. The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office stated operations were conducted over the weekend across 12 provinces against 38 suspects, resulting in the detention of 26 individuals. Authorities seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol, and a firearm during these operations.
Additionally, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office announced that a further 21 people had been detained as part of an investigation into the LGBTQ association Kaos GL, with five additional individuals still being sought. Kaos GL reported that at least 50 activists were detained, including more than 10 taken in police raids on their homes.
Authorities also blocked access to numerous websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ organisations, activists, and rights advocates. Dubbed “My Family is Safe,” the government’s initiative comes as President Tayyip Erdogan promotes a “Decade of Family and Population,” designed to address falling birth rates and an aging demographic.
Rights groups have accused the Turkish government of increasingly targeting the LGBTQ community in recent years, citing a hardening of rhetoric and restrictions. The Turkish Human Rights Association condemned the operation, asserting, “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.”
European Parliament rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor referred to the wave of arrests as “a shocking escalation” of repression, emphasizing that “this imposition of a moral agenda is a blatant violation of fundamental rights and Turkey’s international commitments taking the country down a dark path.”
Prosecutors indicated that there was evidence of children and underage youths being inappropriately influenced regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek noted that investigations, coordinated by prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin, and Mersin, involved judicial proceedings against 162 suspects, nine associations, and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.
