LGBTQ raids in Turkey: ‘Our existence is seen as obscene’
Turkish police arrested at least 60 people in coordinated Sunday raids targeting gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, in what authorities described as an operation to protect traditional family values. The crackdown drew swift international condemnation and renewed alarm from human rights groups.
Raids at dawn, arrests by the dozen
Officers moved simultaneously on multiple locations, sweeping through gay bars and private residences in what activists called one of the most aggressive anti-LGBTQ operations in recent memory. Turkish authorities framed the action as part of an ongoing effort to uphold national values — a line the government has used repeatedly to justify targeting the community.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long cast LGBTQ people as a “deviant movement” of “perverts” he blames, without evidence, for Turkey’s declining birth rate. His rhetoric has hardened over the years, and Sunday’s raids suggest enforcement is now keeping pace with the language.
Yildiz Tar, Editor-in-Chief of KaosGL.org, one of Turkey’s leading LGBTQ media outlets, told FRANCE 24 the situation has become existential. “The very existence of LGBTQI people is seen as obscene,” she said.
That one sentence captures something the official statements won’t.
A community under sustained pressure
Turkey’s LGBTQ community has faced mounting restrictions since Istanbul’s Pride march was banned in 2015. Since then, authorities have routinely blocked public gatherings, detained activists, and used broad public order laws to suppress visibility.
A Turkish Interior Ministry spokesperson said the raids were conducted “in line with our duty to protect public morality and the integrity of the family structure.” No further details on the legal basis for the arrests were provided.
Activists say at least some of those detained were held overnight. It’s still unclear how many have been formally charged.
With parliamentary elections on the horizon, analysts don’t expect the pressure to ease. If anything, they say, it’s likely to intensify.
