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Turkey launches wave of raids and arrests targeting queer bars, gay cruising spot and LGBTQIA+ community

by Timothy••0

Nearly 50 LGBTQIA+ activists and rights defenders detained as authorities invoke ‘family protection’

Turkish police have carried out a coordinated wave of raids and detentions targeting LGBTQIA+ activists, civil society organisations and venues in several provinces, prompting condemnation from European LGBTQIA+ organisations.

The operations began in the early hours of Sunday 13 September 2026, following court-ordered restrictions on the websites and social media accounts of numerous LGBTQIA+ organisations, media platforms, student groups, rights defenders and activists the previous day.

According to information gathered by the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA), nearly 50 LGBTQIA+ rights defenders, association executives and founders, members, former executives and independent activists have so far been detained or subjected to police procedures. The number is still changing as the operations continue.

Turkey‘s Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the operations, publicly referred to as ‘My Family is Safe’, involve 162 individuals, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces, including Istanbul and Ankara. The investigations are being coordinated by the Chief Public Prosecutors’ Offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, and Mersin.

Gürlek said the operations were part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ‘Decade of the Family’, which covers 2026 to 2035 and is intended, according to the government, to protect children, the family as an institution and social order.

Raids on homes, associations and venues

In Istanbul, police raided several gay bars and a nightclub regarded as a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community, according to footage broadcast by pro-government media. A men’s hamam was also reportedly searched.

The raids have extended well beyond commercial venues. Homes and offices belonging to LGBTQIA+ activists and organisations have been searched, while mobile phones, computers, tablets, external storage devices and other electronic equipment have been seized.

Kaos GL said that more than ten of its members had been arrested following police searches of their homes. From around 1:00 on Sunday, police reportedly targeted members of the organisation’s boards of directors and auditors, including both full and substitute members. Kaos GL’s office in Ankara was also searched.

Other organisations affected include Muamma LGBTI+ Association and Mersin 7 Renk LGBTI+ Solidarity Association in Mersin, as well as SPoD, HEVİ LGBTI+ Association, Pozitif Yaşam Association, and Pozitif-İz Association in Istanbul. Members associated with Lambdaistanbul and LİSTAG have also reportedly been affected. The chair of Pembe Hayat Association in Ankara was detained.

Operations have also targeted businesses and venues in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu and Şişli districts, with people working in or associated with some of the venues, including sex workers, reportedly detained.

‘Obscenity’, prostitution and organised crime allegations

The authorities have referred to allegations including ‘obscenity’, facilitating prostitution or providing premises for prostitution, exposing children to allegedly obscene material and drug-related offences.

There are also indications that some investigation files may contain allegations under Article 220 of the Turkish Criminal Code, concerning the establishment of an organisation for the purpose of committing crimes.

EPOA describes the possible use of Article 220 as particularly alarming. Establishing or directing such an organisation can carry a prison sentence of five to 10 years, while membership can carry two to five years.

The organisation says that applying organised-crime provisions to LGBTQIA+ activists or associations would represent a significant escalation compared with previous prosecutions based on allegations such as ‘obscenity’ or violations of Turkey’s Law on Associations.

The concerns are compounded by the language used in a police research report dated 10 September, three days before the raids. The report reportedly described the activities of the targeted organisations and individuals as contrary to the ‘Turkish-Islamic family structure and social morality’, and as undermining society’s moral structure. It also referred to an alleged ‘foreign-based policy of moral corruption and division’ directed against Turkey.

EPOA argues that this language suggests legitimate LGBTQIA+ organising and civil society activity are being assessed through explicitly moralistic and discriminatory concepts rather than solely through specific allegations of criminal conduct.

Restrictions on lawyers and online activity

The crackdown began with a court decision on 12 September ordering access restrictions against numerous LGBTQIA+ organisations, media outlets, student groups, rights defenders and activists.

The affected websites include those of the 17 May Association, ÜniKuir News, Pembe Hayat Association, SPoD, Young LGBTQIA+ Association, Lambdaistanbul, Muamma LGBTQIA+ and Velvele. Numerous X (Twitter) and Instagram accounts were also included, with some subsequently becoming inaccessible from Turkey.

In Istanbul, the courts have also imposed restrictions on lawyers’ access to the investigation file. Under Article 153 of the Turkish Code of Criminal Procedure, such an order can restrict defence lawyers’ ability to inspect and obtain copies of documents during the investigation.

EPOA also says authorities in Istanbul and Ankara have required each suspect to have a separate lawyer, citing potential conflicts of interest. The organisation says no concrete, individualised basis for such conflicts has so far been provided, potentially complicating access to legal assistance during the mass detentions.

Foreign funding under scrutiny

The investigations have also raised concerns about the financial activities of LGBTQIA+ organisations.

Gürlek said Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) was examining transfers received by certain associations from public institutions and foreign organisations and investigating their alleged links to the activities under investigation.

EPOA stresses that receiving foreign funding is lawful for associations in Turkey, subject to notification and existing administrative and financial oversight. International funding from organisations, diplomatic missions and foundations is a normal source of support for civil society and international human rights cooperation.

The organisation warns that portraying such funding as suspicious because recipients work on LGBTQIA+ rights could have a chilling effect on both organisations and their supporters.

The scrutiny has reportedly also extended to individual donors. Media reports based on purported MASAK records have published the names of people who made donations or membership payments to LGBTQIA+ associations, along with the amounts involved. EPOA says presenting legitimate donations as part of a supposedly suspicious financial network risks exposing supporters to public targeting and discouraging people from funding human rights organisations.

Human rights concerns

The European Pride Organisers Association says the combination of measures raises serious concerns about freedom of association and expression, access to information, liberty and security, privacy, protection against discrimination and the ability of human rights defenders to work without intimidation or retaliation.

The organisation is particularly concerned about the sequence of events: restrictions on the online presence of LGBTQIA+ organisations and activists were followed almost immediately by simultaneous home and office raids, detentions and seizures of electronic equipment, while government statements subsequently linked the organisations’ international funding to criminal investigations.

It also warns that the authorities appear, in some cases, to be presenting LGBTQIA+ associations, their founders and members, commercial venues and allegations of serious criminal activity as part of a single narrative. EPOA says this risks conflating legitimate civil society activities and LGBTQIA+ social life with allegations of criminal conduct.

A journalist associated with a pro-government newspaper has also reportedly posted hostile material targeting LGBTQIA+ people, including a call for them to be ‘rounded up’, further increasing concerns about the safety of those affected by the operations.

EPOA calls for international action

The European Pride Organisers Association is urging international human rights mechanisms, diplomatic missions and civil society organisations to publicly condemn the mass detentions, raids and restrictions targeting LGBTQIA+ civil society.

It is calling for people detained solely because of legitimate human rights or association activities to be released, and for international actors to urgently raise the issue with the Turkish government and seek detailed information about the legal grounds, necessity and proportionality of the measures.

EPOA is also asking international stakeholders to closely monitor the criminal investigations and any subsequent court proceedings, and to make clear that legitimate civil society activity, international cooperation and lawful domestic or international funding must not be criminalised or used to intimidate human rights defenders.

The organisation says international actors should reaffirm the legitimacy of LGBTQIA+ organisations and human rights defenders in Turkey, particularly as rhetoric portraying LGBTQIA+ people as a threat to the family, morality or children increasingly becomes reflected in administrative and judicial action.

Crackdown continues

The operations, detentions, searches and investigations were still ongoing on Sunday. The precise number of people affected, the scope of the investigations and the allegations against individual people and organisations were still being verified.

Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Turkey, but LGBTQIA+ people face widespread discrimination and hostility. Erdoğan has repeatedly used anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and presented LGBTQIA+ rights as a threat to the family and social values.

The latest operations mark a broad escalation in pressure on Turkey’s LGBTQIA+ civil society, targeting not only individuals but also the organisations’ offices, governing bodies, digital platforms, finances and international links.

LGBTQIA+ and travel

🇧🇪 Blogger, keen vexillologist, train conductor NMBS/SNCB, traveller, F1 follower, friend of Dorothy.

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