In a series of coordinated operations, Turkish authorities have intensified their efforts to tackle illegal gambling and suppress LGBTQ+ activities. These crackdowns, conducted in 2026, highlight the government’s focus on enforcing strict regulations and promoting conservative values.
The operations reflect a broader strategy to address financial crimes and social issues, but they have also sparked concerns about human rights and civil liberties.
Illegal gambling networks dismantled
Turkish law enforcement agencies have conducted a sweeping operation targeting illegal betting networks across eight provinces. This operation followed investigations that uncovered financial transactions linked to 177 suspects. The Interior Ministry confirmed that accounts connected with the suspects had exhibited suspicious financial activity amounting to 17.75 billion lira ($365.8 million).
Coordinated efforts between the government’s cybercrime and anti-smuggling units, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), and local prosecutors led to raids in the provinces of Adıyaman, Konya, Manisa, Muğla, Tekirdağ, Siirt, Muş, and Çorum. Officials alleged that the individuals involved had been operating illegal betting websites and had facilitated the movement of proceeds from gambling through Turkey’s financial system.
The Interior Ministry insisted that the crackdown on digital illegal gambling would persist as part of a broader strategy to prevent criminal proceeds from being fed into the economy via banking and payment infrastructures. Türkiye’s Law No. 7258 criminalises the operation of gambling activities without a licence. Offences are often combined with money laundering and fraud charges, amplifying legal consequences for offenders.
Addressing gambling addiction and its consequences
This latest operation forms part of an ongoing surge in Turkey’s efforts to curb illegal betting throughout 2026. Earlier this year, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi called illegal betting a “scourge that corrupts society” and emphasised a move towards tougher enforcement.
According to Çiftçi, the rapid growth of digital payments and cryptocurrencies has transformed illegal betting into a major conduit for money laundering. “Casinos, junkets, cryptocurrencies, and underground banking are the most critical parts of the money laundering infrastructure that fuels international organised crime,” he said at the time. The government blocked 548,420 illegal betting and gambling websites between 2006 and 2025, including 84,000 in 2025 alone.
Deputy Minister of Interior Ali Çelik suggested that curbing addiction would lead to a decrease in illegal betting activity. “If we can eliminate this sector, we will also minimise the funds flowing into the hands of the next criminal organisation,” Çelik said. The president of the Turkish Green Crescent Society, Associate Professor Mehmet Dinç, highlighted the relationship between supply and demand in the fight against illegal betting. “In the fight against gambling, combating supply alone is not enough,” he said. “Combating demand alone is not enough; merely shutting down websites is not enough. This is an ecosystem: it starts with advertisements and continues through social media, sporting activities, influencers, games, mobile applications, payment systems, loans, bets, losses, debt, and continued betting.”
LGBTQ+ communities face repression
In a separate but equally significant crackdown, Turkish police launched dawn raids on popular hangout spots and LGBTQ+ homes in 12 provinces over the weekend as part of a ‘My Family is Safe’ campaign to protect family values. Authorities targeted popular hangouts, current and former members of prominent LGBTQ+ rights groups, and blocked their websites.
Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said proceedings had begun against 162 suspects, as well as 9 associations and 13 businesses, relating to various allegations including pornography and producing obscene content. The Turkish Human Rights Association condemned the raids, stating, “This is not a judicial investigation; it is a political operation aimed at forcing society into a monolithic family model and purging LGBTI+ and independent civil society under the guise of protecting the family and children.”
Police detained 26 people and seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol, and a firearm, according to the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office. The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said that a further 21 people were arrested as part of an investigation into LGBTQ+ association Kaos GL. Authorities also blocked access to dozens of websites and social media accounts linked to LGBT organisations and activists, Kaos GL added.
The crackdown was part of the government’s ‘My Family is Safe’ campaign, which is part of President Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts to boost falling birth rates and foster a ‘Decade of Family and Population’. The Turkish Human Rights Association added on X, “The real name of this operation is not ‘My Family is Safe’; it is state-led discrimination, politics of fear, and the dismantling of civil society.”
LGBTQ+ groups have accused the government of repressing LGBTQ people, although same-sex relations are not illegal in the country, homophobia is rife. The country’s president, Erdogan, has blamed LGBTQ ‘perverts’ for Turkey’s rapidly declining birth rates.
