Legal authorities in Istanbul, Turkey, arrested at least 47 people across 12 provinces in government raids on LGBTQ+ bars, activist groups, and associations that took place over the weekend.
The government crackdown is part of virulently anti-LGBTQ President Tayyip Erdogan’s ongoing “My Family Is Safe” initiative, which targets queer people in the name of protecting family values, even though Turkey doesn’t have laws explicitly banning homosexuality.
In the largest crackdown in years, Turkish authorities raided LGBT rights organizations and arrested activists in major cities on September 12-14. 🧵⤵️https://t.co/vT6ifE8z4Y
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) September 14, 2026
More from Reuters:
The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said operations were carried out over the weekend across 12 provinces against 38 suspects, and 26 of them were detained with authorities seizing drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a firearm.
In a separate statement, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said a further 21 people had been detained as part of an investigation into the LGBTQ+ association Kaos GL and five people were still being sought.
Kaos GL said at least 50 activists had been detained, including more than 10 who were taken in police raids on their homes.
In addition, it said authorities blocked access to dozens of websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ+ organizations, activists and rights advocates.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said in a statement on X that investigations in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin involved judicial proceedings against 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.
Regular readers will recall I was on an Atlantis gay cruise this past July that was banned from docking in Turkey citing “moral standards” and “family values,” even though Atlantis has visited the country several times in the past.
On Monday, Turkish police fired tear gas at a group of about 200 demonstrators in Izmir protesting the nationwide raids,
Human rights groups spoke out against the Turkish government targeting the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.
In fact the arrests have nothing to do with making families safer. Instead, they weaponize the rhetoric of “family values” to pursue discrimination, stigma, and state repression.
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) September 14, 2026
Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, called the raids “a shocking escalation” of repression.
The sweeping wave of arrests & raids last night against #LGTBI activists is a shocking escalation in the repression in #Türkiye. This imposition of a moral agenda is a blatant violation of fundamental rights & 🇹🇷’s international commitments taking the country down a dark path. https://t.co/Bvw3l4jAzq
— Nacho Sánchez Amor (@NachoSAmor) September 13, 2026
Here’s the report from France 24:
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