Turkey Detains Dozens in Sweeping Raids on LGBTQ+ and HIV Groups

Turkish police carried out coordinated pre-dawn raids on Sunday targeting LGBTQ+ and HIV support organisations and individuals, detaining dozens of members across five major cities.

The operations began at around 1 a.m. and unfolded simultaneously in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin. Officers entered association offices and raided venues popular with the community, while the websites of several of the targeted organisations were blocked.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on social media that the investigation covered 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses. He framed the action as necessary to "protect children, the institution of the family, and public order," linking it to a decade-old executive order on families and children issued under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"As per the duty to protect families and children given to the state by the constitution, no criminal organization, abuse network or illegal activity which targets children, youths or families will be tolerated!" Gurlek said. He also claimed the associations received substantial funding from international sources and agencies.

The raids swept up both current and former members of prominent LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups.

The Human Rights Association condemned the operation, calling it a political move rather than a judicial inquiry. It said the action was aimed at forcing society into a single family model and purging LGBTI+ and independent civil society under the guise of protecting families and children. The association added that bundling unrelated accusations such as forming a criminal organisation, drugs, prostitution and obscenity served to incriminate an entire community rather than uncover facts.

The governing Justice and Development Party, religious conservative in orientation, has grown increasingly vocal against LGBTQ+ groups as it courts its conservative base. Istanbul Pride was banned in 2015 after earlier editions drew tens of thousands of attendees, and authorities have since broken up attempted Pride gatherings by force. This summer, an LGBTQ+ cruise ship that tours the Mediterranean and had docked in Turkey repeatedly in the past was refused permission to dock.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in the Ottoman Empire in 1858, before the modern republic was founded, but social discrimination remains widespread.