In the early hours of Sunday 13 September, Turkish police launched simultaneous raids across 12 provinces, targeting LGBTQ+ associations, private homes, and businesses in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın, and Mersin. The government named the operation "My Family Is Safe." Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced it on social media as an investigation aimed at protecting children, the institution of the family, and public order — framing it as part of President Erdoğan's "Decade of Family and Population" agenda.
What happened
The Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said operations targeted 38 suspects across 54 homes, offices, and businesses, resulting in 26 detentions. Ankara-based LGBTQ+ rights organisation Kaos GL put the figure significantly higher — at least 50 activists taken into custody, including more than ten detained in raids on their homes. The raids also targeted current and former members of HIV awareness and advocacy organisations. Authorities seized drugs, digital equipment, and a firearm, and said they were investigating allegations of prostitution, obscene content, and organised crime.
Simultaneously, access to dozens of websites and social media accounts belonging to LGBTQ+ organisations was blocked for users in Turkey. Among the accounts taken offline were the official LGBTQ+ student societies of Boğaziçi and Bilkent universities, as well as the Sexual Education Treatment and Research Association — a professional body of clinicians rather than a campaign group.
How the government justified it
Officials stated that investigators had obtained evidence suggesting minors were being guided on questions of sexual orientation and gender identity without appropriate regard for their age or development — a claim that connects directly to long-running government rhetoric portraying LGBTQ+ organisations as a threat to children. Justice Minister Gürlek also noted that some of the targeted associations had received significant funding from abroad, an insinuation of foreign interference that Turkish authorities have deployed in earlier waves of pressure on civil society.
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.
— Human Rights Association (İHD), Turkey
Part of a longer pattern
Homosexuality has never been illegal in Turkey, but the space for LGBTQ+ public life has narrowed sharply over the past decade. Istanbul's Pride march has been banned every year since 2015. During Pride 2026 alone, ILGA-Europe recorded 65 detentions in Istanbul, 36 in Izmir, ten during a trans march, and eight in Ankara — all were later released, but face potential prosecution. The September raids represent an escalation beyond parade-day policing: they target the associational infrastructure of the LGBTQ+ movement itself.
This is the kind of operation that, once normalised, becomes a template. The allegations used as justification — prostitution, obscenity, foreign funding, harm to minors — are familiar tools for delegitimising civil society without requiring direct legislation against LGBTQ+ people. The digital blockades mean that, whatever the outcome for those detained, the organisations' ability to communicate and organise has already been disrupted.
Sources: Al-Monitor / Reuters, Japan Times, Demócrata, Al Jazeera, ILGA-Europe, Hürriyet Daily News, Velvele, Kaos GL