Turkish police arrest 60 in massive LGBTQ crackdown across major cities

Turkish police swept through major cities Sunday and arrested at least 60 people in a massive crackdown on LGBTQ groups. Officers raided gay bars, activist offices, and private homes across Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Mersin. This action marks a sharp rise in Turkiye's decade-long hostility toward the community. State news agency Anadolu reported that prosecutors detained 63 individuals based on their investigations in three key cities.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek posted online that authorities investigated 162 suspects, nine associations, and 13 businesses to protect children and public order. He linked these raids called "My Family is Safe" to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's executive order for a "Decade of Family and Population." That policy aims to stop the country's falling birthrate. Gurlek declared on X that no criminal network targeting families would be tolerated under the constitution.

LGBTQ rights group Kaos GL faced immediate action as officers searched their offices and took activists into custody. They said nearly 50 defenders of LGBTQ rights are now facing interrogations or detention. Judicial officials in Ankara accused the group of publishing obscene posts online that children could access. The government blocked these organizations' websites just days before the police raids began.

Activists say this move represents state-led discrimination and a politics of fear rather than genuine safety. The Turkish Human Rights Association called out the operation for dismantling civil society. Nacho Sanchez Amor, a rapporteur at the European Parliament, condemned the detentions as a shocking escalation in repression against the nation's LGBTQ population.

The governing AK Party banned Istanbul Pride in 2015 and has violently dispersed any gathering since then. This latest raid hardens rhetoric and restrictions on Turkiye's LGBTQ community. Families face new threats while civil society struggles under heavy-handed government directives.