Turkey's rights groups, EU call out LGBTQ+ crackdown

During weekend raids targeting LGBTQ+ activists and organizations in Turkey , several people were arrested and many social media accounts were blocked. The Turkish government's actions have drawn sharp criticism from across the country and abroad.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced the operation as part of the "Decade of Family and Population" scheme, a national strategy proclaimed in May 2025 that was to counter the drastic decline in the country's birth rate and strengthen the traditional, conservative family view.

Istanbul saw renewed demonstrations on Tuesday, with LGBTQ+ associations emphasizing in a joint declaration that it wasn't a crime to set up an association and advocate for rights.

"Freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, protection of privacy and presumption of innocence apply to LGBTQ+ people as well," the declaration stated.

The LGBTQ+ community also received support from the women's movement, with 120 women's rights organizations signing a joint declaration in which they criticized authoritarianism in Turkey.

"As women, we stand against the operations carried out in the name of 'keeping the family safe.' We know that the repression of our bodies, our lives, our identities and our right to organize is part of the same authoritarian politics . Being [LGBTQ+] is not a crime! Organizing as [LGBTQ+] people is not a crime!"

The government is trying to criminalize the LGBTQ+ community, said Yildiz Taghizade, advocacy officer at Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR), an organization that co-signed the declaration. This criminalization did not just start with the operations of the past few days, but had already been going on for a few years, according to Taghizade.

"The aim is not only to target LGBTQ+ people, but to practically ban the LGBTQ+ community from engaging in politics, getting organized, claiming rights and showing presence in the public sphere," Taghizade said.