Turkish police raid gay bars and LGBTQ+ homes in ‘family values’ crackdown

Turkish police launched dawn raids on popular hang out spots (Picture: REUTERS)

Turkish police have arrested 162 people in a sweeping crackdown targeting gay bars and LGBTQ+ activists.

Authorities carried out dawn raids in 12 provinces over the weekend as part of a ‘My Family is Safe’ campaign to protect family values.

Officers 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.

Turkey’s Human Rights Association said: ‘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.

People run from the police during a June 2026 march in support of transgender people and their rights during the LGBTQ Pride week in Istanbul (Picture AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)

‘To include unrelated charges such as ‘forming a criminal organization,’ ‘drugs,’ ‘prostitution’ and ‘obscenity’ serves not to reveal the truth but to incriminate the entire community.’

Police detained 26 people and seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a firearm, Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.

Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said that a further 21 people were arrested as part of an investigation into LGBTQ+ association Kaos GL.

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The LGBT rights group, one of the oldest and largest in Turkey, said at least 50 activists had been detained, including 10 arrested during raids on their homes.

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 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,’ the Turkish Human ⁠Rights Association added on X.

LGBTQ+ groups have accused the government of repressing LGBTQ people (Picture: Hakan Akgun/ dia images via Getty Images)

Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, sounded the alarm over the ‘shocking escalation’ of repression.

He added: ‘This ​imposition of a moral agenda is a blatant violation of fundamental ​rights and ⁠Turkey’s international commitments taking the country down a dark path.’

Prosecutors have claimed there is evidence that children were being inappropriately influenced on issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Although same-sex relations are not illegal in the country, homophobia is rife.

The country’s president Edogan has blamed LGBTQ ‘perverts’ for Turkey’s rapidly declining birth rates.

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