Demonstrators assemble on September 15, 2026, outside the Istanbul courthouse to protest the arrests of LGBT activists and raids on LGBT rights associations in cities across Türkiye. More than 100 demonstrators were also arrested and detained for more than 24 hours.
(Istanbul, September 18, 2026) – The Turkish government’s major crackdown on groups and activists defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people threatens the rule of law and fundamental rights in Türkiye, Human Rights Watch said today.
On September 12-14, 2026, coordinated police raids targeted seven groups defending the rights of LGBT people and two supporting people living with HIV, as well as bars and nightclubs in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, and Mersin. Police arrested at least 112 people, with 82 still detained under court order. At least 24 of them are LGBT activists, founders or executives of the targeted groups, and one is a journalist.
“This crackdown is a blatant attempt to criminalize and marginalize LGBT people and silence the groups that stand up for their rights,” said Benjamin Ward, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Turkish government should immediately release LGBT activists and others arrested without credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing and end its campaign against LGBT groups.”
On September 12, Türkiye’s Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced that 162 people were under investigation in an operation named “My Family Is Safe,” carried out in the context of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s May decree announcing a “decade of the family.”
In recent years, Turkish officials have repeatedly invoked protection of so-called family values to justify discrimination against LGBT people. The crackdown has nothing to do with protecting families and everything to do with entrenching hateful discrimination, Hum
