Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government launched a sweeping crackdown on LGBT organizations, activists and support groups between Sept. 12 and 14. Police raids across 15 provinces targeted LGBT rights groups, support organizations, bars and nightclubs.
At least 116 people were arrested, with 83 placed in pretrial detention. More than 160 individuals became subjects of criminal investigations. Authorities blocked or restricted hundreds of websites and social media accounts.
The government justified the operations under the banner of "My Family Is Safe," a slogan linking the crackdown to family protection. This framing is notable given that Turkey permits same-sex relations and maintains a constitutionally secular state.
Days after the raids, Erdogan addressed the United Nations General Assembly and denounced what he called "global gender-neutralization policies," portraying LGBT people and their rights as threats to children and the family structure. His UN statement mirrored the justifications his government had used internally for the enforcement actions.
The ideological groundwork for these actions spans years. In 2020, the state religious authority, the Diyanet, issued a declaration condemning homosexuality under Islam. When the Ankara Bar Association objected, prosecutors initiated investigations against the lawyers. Erdogan publicly defended the cleric who issued the declaration.
Turkey later withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, an international agreement on violence against women, alleging it was being used to "normalize homosexuality."
At the same UN address, Erdogan called for international pressure on Israel to end bloodshed in Gaza, describing it as "the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp" and accusing the country of genocide.
The combination of domestic crackdown and international rhetoric has raised questions among American LGBT organizations about how to respond to persecution by Islamist and authoritarian governments. Some observers note that Western LGBT institutions face pressure to confront the use of Sharia and Islamic doctrine to justify the criminalization and persecution of gay people globally.
