Turkey’s anti-LGBT crackdown expands; activists fight back
In U.N. speech, Turkey’s president claims LGBT rights are a threat to families
As Turkiye (Turkey) expanded its attacks on the LGBT community, human rights activists countered last week with protests in Istanbul and Izmir, and now an online petition drive.
What began with Turkish police raids on Sept. 12 has extended to arrests of protesters, social media bans and anti-LGBT rhetoric from the podium of the U.N. General Assembly.
In a joint effort with the Council for Global Equality, Outright International and GLAAD, All Out has launched a petition urging Meta and X to “Stop silencing Turkish LGBT+ activists”. More than 3,800 had signed it as of this article’s publication time.
The petition begins with an explanation of the actions by X (formerly Twitter) and Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) that led to the protest:
On 12 September, a Turkish court ordered Meta and X to block the accounts of Kaos GL, SPoD, and dozens of other LGBT+ organizations, parent organizations, journalists and human rights defenders in Türkiye. This digital blackout happened alongside a mass crackdown – more than 110 people now facing legal action, according to Turkish activists, in state raids the government dubbed “Operation My Family Is Safe.” Founders and members of some of the targeted organizations are now being prosecuted for founding a “criminal organization,” with “encouraging people to be LGBTI” being cited as part of the case against them. Meta and X complied within days. The blocking order has since expanded to Amnesty International’s Turkey office, independent newspapers and legal organizations.
On Tuesday, Turkish president Recep Erdoğan told the U.N. General Assembly that he believes global “gender neutrality” policies are a threat to children and traditional family structures.
“Global gender-neutralisation policies … have turned into a siege targeting innocent children, along with the institution of the family,” he said.
As commentator Yuval David noted in Middle East Forum Observer: “He did not mention the raids.”
David added: “For LGBT people in Turkey, the danger is no longer rhetorical. A government that has turned Islamic doctrine into state policy is enforcing it through police and prosecutors—dismantling LGBT civil society, criminalizing homosexuality and LGBT identity through pretextual charges, and consolidating power. This threatens the rule of law for LGBT people and fundamental rights of all Turkish citizens striking against activists and groups that represent and support LGBT people. Those jailed threaten no family ….”
The anti-LGBT crackdown has included, by David’s tally:
- At least 116 people were arrested across 15 provinces; at least 83 remain in pretrial detention, and more than 160 are under investigation.
- LGBT groups report intrusive strip searches, humiliation, and isolation in custody.
- Most of those arrested are trans women, charged with prostitution, or drug, obscenity, and association-law offenses.
- Turkey’s Human Rights Association said charges such as “forming a criminal organization” were added to incriminate an entire community.
- Prosecutors accused Kaos GL, Turkey’s leading LGBT organization, of posting obscene content that could be publicly accessible, including by children.
- Among the Kaos GL members jailed is Nedime Erdoğan, the mother of an LGBT person, who says she joined to keep LGBT people and their families together. (An operation called “My Family Is Safe” has imprisoned a mother for keeping her family whole.)
- Journalist Tuğba Tekerek was jailed because of a freelance Kaos GL article from two years ago.
- Authorities blocked or restricted at least 419 social media accounts.
- Financial-crimes investigators are probing LGBT groups’ foreign funding, which is legal.
The All Out petition states:
Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk both market Meta and X as defenders of free expression. But when Türkiye’s government asked them to silence LGBT+ voices, both companies folded without a fight – no public explanation and no legal pushback. The people who run these platforms willingly help enforce censorship they claim to oppose. A tech company that silently executes autocratic blocking orders becomes an active arm of state repression. If Meta and X yield without resistance in Türkiye, it signals to every authoritarian government globally that silencing human rights defenders takes nothing more than a formal request.
Sign the petition telling Meta and X to restore the blocked accounts. Challenge blocking orders in court instead of simply executing them. Restore the accounts of Kaos GL, SPoD, and the other organizations and individuals targeted, and explain clearly why they were blocked in the first place. And publish a transparency report detailing every request the two companies have received from Türkiye’s authorities tied to “Operation My Family Is Safe” – so the public can judge for itself whether these blocks were ever justified.
