Türkiye: LGBT Rights Crackdown Strikes at Rule of Law

(Istanbul, September 18, 2026) – The Turkish government’s major crackdown on groups and activists defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people threatens the rule of law and fundamental rights in Türkiye, Human Rights Watch said today. On September 12-14, 2026, coordinated police raids targeted seven groups defending the rights of LGBT people and two supporting people living with HIV, as well as bars and nightclubs in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, and Mersin. Police arrested at least 112 people, with 82 still detained under court order. At least 24 of them are LGBT activists, founders or executives of the targeted groups, and one is a journalist. “This crackdown is a blatant attempt to criminalize and marginalize LGBT people and silence the groups that stand up for their rights,” said Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Turkish government should immediately release LGBT activists and others arrested without credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing and end its campaign against LGBT groups.” On September 12, Türkiye’s Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced that 162 people were under investigation in an operation named “My Family Is Safe,” carried out in the context of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s May decree announcing a “decade of the family.” In recent years, Turkish officials have repeatedly invoked protection of so-called family values to justify discrimination against LGBT people. The crackdown has nothing to do with protecting families and everything to do with entrenching hateful discrimination, Human Rights Watch said. The arrests and raids on associations and businesses in different cities have been conducted as separate investigations under the orders of chief prosecutors’ offices in those cities. The justice minister announced that the investigations involved criminal charges including “obscenity,” sex work, and drug-related offenses. He also said that “LGBT and immorality promoting associations” are funded from international sources. Such funding—whether from European Union-related sources, foreign government sources, or from private foundations—is entirely legal in Türkiye, provided recipients notify the authorities. There is no evidence of any failure to comply with that obligation as the Turkish authorities regularly audit all associations for compliance with the law. Associations and groups aligned with the Erdogan government and indeed the government itself benefit from EU funding. In Ankara, police arrested 14 officials from the executive and supervisory boards of the leading LGBT rights organization Kaos GL. Its lawyers told Human Rights Watch that police questioned them in detail about the group’s foreign funding, content on the group’s social media and internet site and other social media, the recruitment of new members, and the internal workings of the association. A court ordered the detention of seven Kaos GL executive and supervisory board members on allegations of violating the law on associations and for “obscenity,” and released another seven under judicial control orders. The evidence includes social media postings with two photos of men kissing. The court also ordered the detention of journalist Tuğba Tekerek. The only evidence the prosecutor cited against her is a 2024 news report she wrote mentioning LGBT rights in Georgia published on the Kaos news portal website. In Mersin, a court detained six activists, including a lawyer, associated with two LGBT rights organizations in the city, accusing them of “obscenity” and sex work-related offenses. In Kuşadası, a court detained two activists from a local LGBT initiative. In Istanbul, the chief prosecutor’s investigation into LGBT rights associations and groups supporting the right to health of people living with HIV included arrests of activists, founders, and executives of the groups on suspicion of “founding, leading or being a member of a criminal organization,” “obscenity,” sex work and drug-related offenses, and violations of the laws on associations. Human Rights Watch has seen a restriction order on the investigation file, which means that information about the evidence and content of the investigation is currently withheld. On September 16, a court ordered the detention of nine executives, founders, and members of the LGBT rights groups Lambda Istanbul, Hevi LGBTİ, SPoD and Pozitif-İz, which supports people living with HIV. The nine are detained for allegedly violating the law on associations. There are serious concerns that the authorities will initiate separate cases to close down the rights organizations following the detention of their executives, founders, and members, Human Rights Watch said. In Izmir, Kuşadası, and Mersin, courts have also detained dozens of other people on suspicion of “obscenity” as well as sex work-and drug-related offenses. They are not known to be civil society activists or rights defenders. On September 14, police using pepper spray intervened in a gathering in Izmir over the anti-LGBT crackdown and arrested two people. On September 15, police surrounded and arrested over 100 people who had assembled to protest the crackdown in front of the Istanbul Caglayan courthouse. They were held for over 24 hours, then released. According to the Freedom of Expression Association, which monitors restriction of online content in Türkiye, between September 12 and 16, courts issued orders to block dozens of social media platforms and websites belonging to LGBT and other rights groups, rights activists, and individuals. The X (formerly Twitter) accounts of Amnesty International in Türkiye, the daily newspaper Evrensel, the Media and Law Studies Association, a media freedom group, and Hak İnisiyatifi, a human rights group, were also ordered blocked and remain blocked. On September 14, the justice minister issued a circular to chief prosecutor’s offices throughout Türkiye titled “Protecting the Family, Young People and Society from Violations of General Morality and Negative Content and Entities.” The circular encourages prosecutors to investigate “activities encouraging the erasure of gender distinctions in children and young people,” collect digital evidence, and request the blocking or removal of online content. The circular specifies that investigations may approach the issues as organized crime and financial crime investigations. “The systematic criminalization of LGBT rights groups and activists and blocking of online content advocating for or reporting on them is part of the Erdogan government’s broader attack on the rights to freedom of expression and association,” Ward said. “Weaponizing the rhetoric of ‘family values’ to pursue discrimination, stigma, and state repression puts everyone at risk.”