Solidarity protests are due to take place across Europe on Friday as Turkish authorities continue a sweeping crackdown on LGBTQIA+ organisations, activists and supporters.
LGBTQIA+ rights activists in Turkey (Türkiye) are seeking international support following a series of raids, detentions, digital restrictions and criminal investigations targeting the country’s LGBTQIA+ community and civil society.
On Friday 18 September, solidarity protests in support of detained LGBTQIA+ activists are due to take place in Brussels, Amsterdam, The Hague, Berlin, Bern, London, Marseille, and Belgrade.
In Brussels, a protest is scheduled for 16:00 outside the Turkish Embassy. Other actions include demonstrations outside Turkish diplomatic missions in Berlin at 12:00, The Hague at 13:00, Amsterdam at 16:00, Bern at 18:00, Marseille at 19:00 and Belgrade at 19:00. In London, actions are planned at the Turkish Embassy from 16:30 to 17:30 and at Trafalgar Square at 18:00.
The protests follow raids launched on 12–13 September targeting LGBTQIA+ organisations, activists, community spaces and businesses in at least 15 provinces.
According to a joint statement by European and international civil society organisations, at least 162 people were detained in the initial operation, including approximately 50 to 60 LGBTQIA+ human rights defenders and activists.
Turkish authorities have named the operation ‘My Family is Safe‘. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said prosecutors were investigating 162 people, nine associations and 13 businesses. Authorities have cited allegations including “obscenity”, “prostitution” and morality-related offences, while MASAK, Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board, is scrutinising funding received from public institutions and organisations abroad.
Members of the governing and oversight bodies of several legally registered LGBTQIA+ organisations have reportedly been detained, including representatives of Kaos GL and Pembe Hayat in Ankara; Muamma and 7 Renk in Mersin; and SPoD, Hevi, Lambda, LİSTAG, Pozitif Yaşam, and Pozitif-iz in Istanbul.
The raids came shortly after a court order blocked websites and social media accounts belonging to LGBTQIA+ organisations and media outlets. The seizure of digital equipment has also raised concerns because organisations hold sensitive information about activists, beneficiaries, people living with HIV, survivors of violence and discrimination, lawyers, journalists and donors.
“Its confidentiality and integrity must be protected, and seized information must not be used to identify, profile or target additional people,” international civil society organisations said.
Further arrests and court proceedings
The crackdown continued on 15 September, when police detained people demonstrating outside Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse against the arrests.
According to AFP, 91 protesters were detained according to their lawyers. Amnesty International put the reported number at more than 95. Two journalists covering the demonstration were also detained, according to the Turkish Journalists’ Union.
On 16 September, eight members of Kaos GL were jailed pending trial, while seven others, including a journalist, were released under judicial supervision, according to Reuters. Prosecutors have accused those detained of facilitating the publication of allegedly obscene material, citing their roles within the organisation and social media activity.
Reuters also reported that at least 54 other people had been jailed in different provinces as part of the wider investigation, while police detained at least 126 people during protests in Ankara and Istanbul on Tuesday.
Amnesty International said more than 60 people had been arrested since the initial raids, with at least 23 placed in pre-trial detention. It said criminal investigations had been opened against more than 160 people and that more than 180 social media accounts belonging to LGBTQIA+ organisations, activists, journalists and media outlets had been blocked or restricted.
Activists seek international support
Turkish LGBTQIA+ activists have launched an international appeal under the title ‘Stop the Criminalisation of the LGBTQIA+ Movement in Turkey‘.
They argue that legitimate civil society activities are being portrayed as criminal through allegations relating to obscenity, prostitution, drugs and morality. They have also rejected the suggestion that international funding of LGBTQIA+ organisations is evidence of criminal activity, noting that such funding is legal and subject to existing oversight under Turkish law.
The international organisations supporting the appeal similarly warn that international funding and cooperation are essential to independent civil society and should not be used to stigmatise organisations because of the communities they represent or the rights they defend.
They are calling on Turkish authorities to release people detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly; guarantee access to lawyers; provide individualised legal grounds for searches and detentions; protect seized digital information; and lift disproportionate restrictions on LGBTQIA+ organisations’ websites and social media accounts.
International response
The crackdown has drawn criticism from international human rights organisations and European institutions.
Amnesty International has called for the release of activists detained for their human rights work and for LGBTQIA+ organisations to be allowed to operate without discrimination, criminalisation or intimidation.
The European Commission has expressed concern about the arrests, legal proceedings and restrictions on websites and social media accounts. The Council of Europe‘s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, has also criticised the measures, saying that references to “family values” or the “protection of children” cannot by themselves provide legal justification for restricting human rights.
A joint statement signed by organisations including ILGA-Europe, Front Line Defenders, ILGA World, TGEU, Article 19, FIDH, Çavaria, and Prisme calls on the European Union, Council of Europe, United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIRH), and diplomatic missions in Turkey to raise the cases directly with Turkish authorities, monitor detention and court proceedings and provide legal and emergency support where needed.
The signatories also urge European governments and public funders to maintain support for Turkish civil society organisations rather than allowing international cooperation to become a basis for criminalisation.
They say the developments concern not only LGBTQIA+ rights but also freedom of association, freedom of expression, protection of human rights defenders, the rule of law and shrinking civic space.
The crackdown comes against a wider backdrop of increasing pressure on LGBTQIA+ people in Turkey. Authorities have imposed restrictions on Pride events and LGBTQIA+ content, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly portrayed the LGBTQIA+ movement as a threat to traditional family structures and values.
Same-sex relations themselves are not criminalised in Turkey.
For the organisations supporting the international appeal, the latest operation represents an escalation because of the combination of criminal investigations, detention of civil society representatives, digital restrictions, equipment seizures and scrutiny of international funding.
They are urging LGBTQIA+ organisations and allies across Europe and Central Asia to amplify the demands of Turkish activists and press their governments and European institutions to respond.
“Human rights work is not a crime, and we will never stand aside in the fight for democracy and democratic values,” the organisations said.
Friday’s demonstrations are intended to turn that international solidarity into public pressure as the detentions and legal proceedings continue.
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