(Istanbul, September 18, 2026) \u2013 The\u00a0Turkish government\u2019s 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 T\u00fcrkiye, Human Rights Watch said today.\u00a0
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, Ayd\u0131n, 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. \u00a0
\u201cThis crackdown is a blatant attempt to criminalize and marginalize LGBT people and silence the groups that stand up for their rights,\u201d said\u00a0Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe Turkish government should immediately release LGBT activists and others arrested without credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing and end its campaign against LGBT groups.\u201d\u00a0
On September 12, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s\u00a0Justice Minister Ak\u0131n G\u00fcrlek announced that 162 people were under investigation in an operation named \u201cMy Family Is Safe,\u201d carried out in the context of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s May\u00a0decree announcing a \u201cdecade of the family.\u201d\u00a0
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.\u00a0
The arrests and raids on associations and businesses in different cities have been conducted as separate investigations under the orders of chief prosecutors\u2019 offices in those cities. \u00a0
The justice minister announced that the investigations involved criminal charges including \u201cobscenity,\u201d sex work, and drug-related offenses. He also said that \u201cLGBT and immorality promoting associations\u201d are funded from international sources.\u00a0
Such funding\u2014whether from European Union-related sources, foreign government sources, or from private foundations\u2014is entirely\u00a0legal in T\u00fcrkiye, 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\u00a0groups aligned with the Erdogan government and indeed\u00a0the government itself benefit from EU funding. \u00a0
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\u2019s foreign funding, content on the group\u2019s social media and internet site and other social media, the recruitment of new members, and the internal workings of the association.\u00a0
A court ordered the detention of seven Kaos GL executive and supervisory board members on allegations of violating the law on associations and for \u201cobscenity,\u201d and released another seven under judicial control orders. The evidence includes social media postings with two photos of men kissing.
The court also\u00a0ordered the detention of journalist Tu\u011fba 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. \u00a0
In Mersin, a court detained six activists, including a lawyer, associated with two LGBT rights organizations in the city, accusing them of \u201cobscenity\u201d and sex work-related offenses. In Ku\u015fadas\u0131, a court detained two activists from a local LGBT initiative. \u00a0
In Istanbul, the chief prosecutor\u2019s 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 \u201cfounding, leading or being a member of a criminal organization,\u201d \u201cobscenity,\u201d 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. \u00a0
On September 16, a court ordered the detention of nine executives, founders, and members of the LGBT rights groups Lambda Istanbul, Hevi LGBT\u0130, SPoD and Pozitif-\u0130z, which supports people living with HIV. The nine are detained for allegedly violating the law on associations.\u00a0
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.\u00a0
In Izmir, Ku\u015fadas\u0131, and Mersin, courts have also detained dozens of other people on suspicion of \u201cobscenity\u201d as well as sex work-and drug-related offenses. They are not known to be civil society activists or rights defenders. \u00a0
On September 14,\u00a0police 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.\u00a0
According to the Freedom of Expression Association, which monitors restriction of online content in T\u00fcrkiye, between\u00a0September 12 and\u00a016, courts issued\u00a0orders 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\u00a0Amnesty International in T\u00fcrkiye, the daily newspaper Evrensel, the Media and Law Studies Association, a media freedom group, and Hak \u0130nisiyatifi, a human rights group, were also ordered blocked and remain blocked.
On September 14, the justice minister\u00a0issued a circular to chief prosecutor\u2019s offices throughout T\u00fcrkiye titled \u201cProtecting the Family, Young People and Society from Violations of General Morality and Negative Content and Entities.\u201d The circular encourages prosecutors to investigate \u201cactivities encouraging the erasure of gender distinctions in children and young people,\u201d 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. \u00a0
\u201cThe 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\u2019s broader attack on the rights to freedom of expression and association,\u201d Ward said. \u201cWeaponizing the rhetoric of \u2018family values\u2019 to pursue discrimination, stigma, and state repression puts everyone at risk.\u201d
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