Turkish authorities conducted a series of crackdowns on various 2SLGBTQ+ groups and individuals in the early hours of Sunday, detaining numerous members, raiding association offices, and targeting popular meeting spots. This crackdown, part of a longstanding hostility towards 2SLGBTQ+ groups, coincided with the upcoming elections and involved simultaneous police raids in major cities like Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin, and Mersin.
Justice Minister Akin Gürlek, through social media, announced an investigation involving 162 suspects, nine associations, and 13 businesses. The purpose of the operation was stated as safeguarding children, family institutions, and public order, aligning with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s executive order focusing on families and children over the past 10 years.
The raids specifically targeted current and former members of several prominent 2SLGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups, with their websites also being blocked. Gürlek emphasized that these associations were discovered to be receiving substantial funding from international sources and agencies.
The Human Rights Association strongly criticized the crackdown, labeling it as a political maneuver to impose a singular family model on society and eliminate LGBTI+ and independent civil society under the guise of protecting families and children. The association argued that the inclusion of unrelated charges like ‘forming a criminal organization,’ ‘drugs,’ ‘prostitution,’ and ‘obscenity’ was a tactic to unjustly target the entire community.
The ruling Justice and Development Party, led by Erdogan, has increasingly voiced opposition to 2SLGBTQ+ groups to appeal to the conservative sections of its support base. Notably, in 2015, the party prohibited Istanbul Pride, previously a large-scale event, and has since taken measures to prevent any Pride-related gatherings. Furthermore, a 2SLGBTQ+ cruise ship was recently denied permission to dock in Turkey, despite having visited the country on multiple occasions in the past.
While the Ottoman Empire, which preceded modern-day Turkey, decriminalized homosexuality in 1858, social discrimination against the 2SLGBTQ+ community remains prevalent in the country.
