Turkey says news site closed for 'LGBTQ propaganda'

• The move came several weeks after authorities launched a major crackdown on the LGBTQ community, raiding gay bars, nightclubs and the homes of activists and community members with warrants for 162 people.

Members of press organisations hold slogans as they protest against the arrest of Turkish journalist Tolga Sardan, who writes for the news outlet T24, in front of the T24 office in Ankara on November 2, 2023. Photo by ADEM ALTAN / AFP

Turkey's justice ministry said Wednesday a court had shut down the website and social media accounts of T24, a leading independent digital news website, citing its "LGBT propaganda".

The move came several weeks after authorities launched a major crackdown on the LGBTQ community, raiding gay bars, nightclubs and the homes of activists and community members with warrants for 162 people.

"As part of the 'My Family is Safe' investigation... the website and social media accounts of online news portal T24, which has produced 118 pieces of content constituting LGBT propaganda over the past year, have been shut down," the justice ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's LGBTQ community has increasingly come under pressure from the authorities. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts".

Speaking to AFP, T24's foreign news desk editor Buse Sogutlu confirmed the closure.

"We got the notification an hour ago. The website is blocked in Turkey now," she said.

T24, which is headquartered in Istanbul with another office in Ankara and a staff of 40, had been subjected to a "social media harassment campaign in recent days", she said.

The closure went beyond T24's coverage of LGBTQ issues, describing it as a blow by the authorities "against pure journalism", she added.

- Condemnation -

The move drew a sharp denunciation by 12 Turkish journalists' associations, who described it as "a grave attack on our profession". They called for it to "be reversed immediately".

"The decision to close down the T24 news portal is not only a very serious violation of the government's obligations regarding press and freedom of expression, it also directly obstructs citizens' right to receive news," it said.

The My Family Is Safe operation, cited as the justification for the closure, had "targeted press and freedom of expression from the very first day", it said, adding that one of those arrested in the crackdown was a journalist who is still behind bars.

Turkey's LGBTQ community has increasingly come under pressure from the authorities, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan describing it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts".

Days before the raids, Turkish officials had confirmed the country would hold an early election in April 2028. Prominent LGBTQ activists told AFP the operation was "the start of the election campaign".

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek has said the My Family is Safe operation was launched as part of Erdogan's "Decade of the Family" which is aimed at "protecting our children, the institution of the family and social order".