On 12 September, police units swooped on offices, homes and venues linked to LGBT advocacy across fifteen Turkish provinces. The coordinated sweep, labelled Operation “My Family Is Safe” marked the latest escalation in a campaign that began years earlier with bans on pride marches and repeated attempts to criminalise same-sex expression. By the end of the first week, more than one hundred individuals had been detained, many of them trans women, and dozens faced charges ranging from prostitution to the loosely defined offence of forming a criminal organization.
The wave of arrests has been accompanied by a raft of alleged abuses inside detention centres. Activists report intrusive strip searches, public humiliation and solitary-confinement that contravene international standards for the treatment of detainees. At least 83 people remain in pre-trial detention while the Human rights Association notes that prosecutors have added the charge of “forming a criminal organisation” to a broad swathe of LGBT-focused NGOs, effectively targeting an entire community rather than specific illegal conduct.
Government narrative at the United Nations
On 22 September, President Recep Erdoğan took the podium of the United Nations General Assembly and denounced what he called “global gender-neutralisation policies” as a siege on children and the traditional family unit. The speech omitted any reference to the ongoing police raids, creating a stark contrast between the rhetoric of protecting families and the reality of state-directed repression. Observers argue that the president’s framing recasts legitimate civil-society work as a threat to public morals, thereby legitimising the use of criminal law to silence dissent.
Online blackout and platform compliance
Simultaneous with the physical raids, a Turkish court issued an order on 12 September that forced the two largest social-media conglomerates, Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) and X (formerly Twitter), to block the accounts of dozens of LGBT organisations, journalists and human-rights defenders. Initial targets included the leading advocacy group Kaos GL the Student Pride and Diversity Network (SPoD) and a range of independent media outlets. Within days the block list expanded to encompass Amnesty International’s Turkey office, several independent newspapers and legal aid NGOs.
The compliance of the platforms was swift and unchallenged. Neither Meta nor X issued a public statement defending the takedowns nor offered to contest the order in court. Critics contend that by executing the request without resistance, the companies became active participants in state-led censorship, sending a message to other authoritarian regimes that a simple legal demand is enough to silence dissenting voices.
Petition demanding platform reinstatement
In response, a coalition of international NGOs—All Out, Outright International and GLAAD—launched an online petition urging Meta and X to reverse the bans and to publish a full transparency report on every Turkish request tied to Operation “My Family Is Safe”. As of the time of writing, the petition has gathered more than 3,800 signatures, calling on the tech giants to challenge blocking orders in court rather than comply silently.
On the ground, activists organised protests in Istanbul and Izmir, confronting police with chants and signs demanding the release of detainees and the restoration of blocked accounts. Security forces responded with pepper spray and mass detentions, including over a hundred demonstrators arrested outside the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan. The domestic unrest has drawn condemnation from a growing list of European parliamentarians and human-rights organisations, highlighting the broader erosion of rule of law in Turkey.
The crackdown is part of a decade-long trajectory that began after the failed coup attempt of 2016, when emergency decrees gave the government sweeping powers to curtail civil society. Since then, the independence of the judiciary has been hollowed out, international courts ignored and treaties sidelined. The current wave against LGBT groups therefore reflects not only a targeted assault on a vulnerable minority but also a systematic dismantling of democratic safeguards that protect all citizens.
