Turkish police have detained over 100 people and arrested 82, including 25 LGBT+ rights defenders now facing prosecution. Sign to demand their release.
In the middle of the night on 13 September, Turkish police broke into the homes of people who run LGBT+ organizations and arrested them while they slept. What began as raids on one organization has grown into a crackdown across five provinces: at least 116 people have now been detained in Ankara, Istanbul, Mersin, Izmir and Aydın, and 82 have been arrested and placed in pre-trial detention. Among those arrested are 25 LGBT+ rights defenders – organizers, staff and one journalist – now facing charges of "obscenity" and violating Turkey's Law on Associations, simply for running websites, keeping financial records, and supporting their communities.
The raids came hours after a court blocked these organizations' websites and social media, cutting off how they warn their community about danger. A government circular issued the next day expanded "morality" investigations to cover anything that might encourage children toward "genderlessness" – opening the door to target LGBT+ education, health support, and advocacy of any kind. Authorities are now moving to dissolve four of the targeted associations. Turkish officials, including the Minister of Justice, have publicly smeared the people they've detained, and with pro-government media joining in, the 25 LGBT+ defenders now behind bars are in real danger inside Turkish prisons. This isn't really about protecting families. It's a coordinated attempt to make it impossible for LGBT+ organizations to exist in Türkiye, and other governments are watching to see if it works.
Add your name and tell Turkish authorities: release the LGBT+ defenders detained for their human rights work, guarantee their safety in detention, drop the plans to dissolve their organization, and stop treating LGBT+ organizing as a crime.
