Turkish police have arrested at least 162 people and raided bars, clubs, and LGBTQ association offices as part of a broader government campaign purportedly aimed at protecting “family values.”
Around 1 a.m. on Sept. 13, police carried out simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin, and Mersin, breaking into LGBTQ association offices, bars, nightclubs, and other community gathering places. Police also raided a hammam (public steam bath) that authorities claimed was being used for prostitution.
Authorities said they seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol, and a firearm during the raids, according to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Turkish regulators also blocked websites belonging to LGBTQ rights and HIV awareness groups.
The raids — part of an operation dubbed “My Family is Safe” — are the latest stage of a broader crackdown on LGBTQ visibility aligned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “Decade of Family and Population.” The 10-year executive order, intended to combat Turkey’s falling birth rate, establishes government monitoring of population changes and birth patterns while prioritizing policies designed to make it easier to marry, purchase homes, and raise children.
Erdogan has blamed homosexuality and LGBTQ “perverts” for declining birth rates, although observers say the trend is more likely driven by broader economic and cultural changes. Turkey’s aging population, worsening financial crisis, inflation, soaring housing costs, limited access to affordable childcare, and higher educational attainment and employment rates among women may be larger contributors.
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said the investigations span 15 provinces and involve nine associations and 13 businesses. The allegations include facilitating prostitution or providing premises for it, producing and distributing obscene content, and promoting LGBTQ activities through social media channels accessible to children.
Gurlek said investigators used undercover officers, technical and physical surveillance, witness statements, digital examinations, and video recordings to build their cases. He said the operation was intended to “protect children, the institution of the family, and public order” in accordance with Erdogan’s executive order, according to The Associated Press.
“As per the duty to protect families and children given to the state by the constitution, no criminal organization, abuse network or illegal activity which targets children, youths or families will be tolerated!” Gurlek wrote on X.
Gurlek also said the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, or MASAK, was reviewing financial transfers involving associations that authorities claim promote “LGBT issues and immorality.” He said some associations had received large amounts of funding from foreign public institutions and organizations, prompting investigators to examine the money’s origins and any possible connection to the activities under investigation.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a separate investigation after receiving a report alleging that the website and social media accounts of Ankara-based LGBTQ rights group Kaos GL contained “obscene material” accessible to children.
In addition to Kaos GL, targeted organizations included the Families and Friends of LGBTIs in Turkey (LİSTAG); the Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD); Lambdaistanbul; HEVİ LGBTİ+; Pozitif Yaşam; and Pozitif İz.
Several LGBTQ organizations issued a joint statement after the raids: “Being LGBT, forming an association and defending our rights are not crimes.” The statement did not list its signatories.
The Human Rights Association also condemned the raids in a statement reported by the Stockholm Center for Freedom.
“This is not a judicial investigation; it is a political operation aimed at forcing society into a monolithic family model and purging LGBTI+ and independent civil society under the guise of protecting the family and children,” the statement said. “To include unrelated charges such as ‘forming a criminal organization,’ ‘drugs,’ ‘prostitution’ and ‘obscenity’ serves not to reveal the truth but to incriminate the entire community.”
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1858 under the Ottoman Empire, but anti-LGBTQ sentiment and discrimination remain widespread in modern Turkey. Erdogan’s right-wing Justice and Development Party has increasingly cast LGBTQ people as a political bogeyman, banning Istanbul Pride in 2015 and using force to disperse attempted celebrations in the years since.
Earlier this summer, authorities also barred an LGBTQ cruise ship from docking in Kuşadası, claiming it had been chartered by groups “known for behaviors incompatible with the fabric of our society and our moral values.”
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In March, Senegalese lawmakers passed a law doubling the maximum prison term for same-sex relations to 10 years and criminalizing pro-LGBTQ advocacy, including the promotion or financing of homosexuality.
Even before the enhanced penalties were passed, the country's law criminalizing "acts against nature" was used to prosecute same-sex activity. The law also groups same-sex activity with necrophilia and bestiality, among other offenses.
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