Türkiye’s crackdown on LGBTI groups and activists is part of an escalating rights crisis

On 13 September, I woke in southwest Türkiye to news of a large-scale operation targeting LGBTI organizations and human rights defenders across the country. Since then, police have arrested at least 116 people across 15 provinces following raids on homes, venues and the offices of LGBTI rights organizations. At least 83 people have been placed in pretrial detention and criminal investigations have been launched against more than 160 people. LGBTI rights organisations have reported allegations of intrusive strip searches, insults and humiliation as well as HRDs being held in isolation in violation of their rights. Hundreds of social media accounts belonging to LGBTI organizations and activists, journalists, media outlets and others have so far been blocked or restricted alongside a number of websites. Those affected include Amnesty International Türkiye’s X account.

As protest within Türkiye builds and international condemnation mounts, it is clear that the Turkish authorities have every intention of intensifying the crackdown

Milena Buyum, Amnesty International

The authorities have named this operation “Ailem Güvende” (“My Family Is Safe”) under the spurious guise of ‘protecting the family’. Yet as LGBTI activists and many others rightly point out, families in Türkiye are suffering poverty, insecurity and increased repression of their civil and political rights, while violence against women and girls is rife, including inside their homes. Far from protecting anyone, this sweeping crackdown has nothing to do with protecting families and everything to do with further harming and stigmatizing people who have battled decades of discrimination and intimidation.

As protest within Türkiye builds and international condemnation mounts, it is clear that the Turkish authorities have every intention of intensifying the crackdown. The Ministry of Justice has sent a circular to 175 chief public prosecutors in all of Türkiye’s 81 provinces, regarding content and activities deemed in their view contrary to “public morality” and harmful to families, children and young people. It instructs prosecutors to promptly assess complaints and reports, take immediate investigative steps, preserve digital evidence and, where necessary, seek the removal or blocking of online content on the vague grounds of ‘obscenity’.

Police reportedly used pepper spray against peaceful protesters in İzmir and more than 100 people were reportedly detained when they peacefully gathered outside the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan. With countrywide protests expected in the coming days and weeks, there are fears of more arrests to come.

The crackdown is part of a wider ongoing attack on the rights of LGBTI people and those who advocate for LGBTI rights. Pride marches including Istanbul Pride have been banned since 2015. In the last two years, proposals to introduce penalties to criminalize expressions of LGBTI identities or consensual same-sex sexual activity have been repeatedly leaked into the public domain. They were withdrawn after huge public uproar and resistance from civil society. While these government efforts to legislate failed, ‘My Family is Safe’ is a further attempt to exclude LGBTI people.

July marked the tenth anniversary of the failed coup attempt that ushered in state of emergency provisions which were in place for two years. These provisions morphed into a raft of repressive legislation targeting civil society, with the independence of the judiciary hollowed out, domestic courts weaponized, international courts ignored, and treaties and standards trampled on. Over the last decade, Türkiye has been subjected to an ongoing authoritarian bonfire of rights which has impacted every aspect of Turkish society, silencing dissent, stoking divisions, and spreading fear.

Whilst thousands of people in Türkiye have been impacted by baseless prosecutions and convictions, there have been several emblematic cases. Prisoner of conscience Osman Kavala, who remains in prison despite two binding European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments (in 2019 and 2026) ordering his release and infringement proceedings against Türkiye initiated by the Council of Europe in 2022. Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, former leaders of the People’s Democratic Party, also remain in prison despite ECtHR rulings ordering their immediate release. Taner Kılıç, Amnesty Turkey’s Honorary Chair, was tried alongside İdil Eser, the organization’s former Turkey director and nine other human rights defenders, known as the Istanbul 10, on baseless allegations of “membership of a terrorist organisation”. They were all eventually acquitted, with Taner Kılıç’s acquittal coming almost eight years after his imprisonment for over 14 months in 2017.

The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression have come under sustained attack with arbitrary restrictions and blanket bans. Peaceful protesters have been subjected to police violence and allegedly tortured in police custody.

Women’s Day marches have also faced bans at a time when the rights of women and girls are facing serious erosion. In 2021, Türkiye withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, the landmark treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In so doing, Türkiye not only became the first Council of Europe member to withdraw from an international human rights convention but removed key protections in a country where gender-based violence remains widespread.

It is time to stand together against the repression of LGBTI people in Türkiye

Milena Buyum, Amnesty International

Ten years after the failed coup attempt, the distance that Türkiye has travelled along the authoritarian path is starkly clear, but this trajectory is still reversable. The targeting of LGBTI communities must end immediately and Turkish authorities must ensure the immediate release of all those detained solely for their human rights work. LGBTI defenders and associations must be allowed to operate and carry out their vital work without discrimination, criminalization, intimidation or reprisals.

On Friday, people took to the streets in more than 50 cities around the world to demand an end to the crackdown. It is time to stand together against the repression of LGBTI people in Türkiye, to raise our voices and to make our solidarity even more visible. Leaders around the world must publicly condemn the crackdown, raise concerns with the highest level of the Turkish government, and provide support to LGBTI organisations and defenders. We must all demand a reversal in this deepening human rights crisis.

Milena Buyum is Senior Campaigner on Europe for Amnesty International

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