<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the morning of September 13, we woke up to terrible news regarding the LGBTI+ movement in Turkey.
Police raids were conducted on the homes of the board of directors and supervisory board members of Kaos GL Association. Numerous executives, including alternate members, were detained, and the association building was searched. News reports indicated that more than 10 LGBTI+ activists were taken into custody. At the center of the investigation are allegations of “obscenity” under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code and opposition to the Law on Associations.
Around the same time, access to the websites and social media accounts of numerous LGBTI+ organizations, activists, and human rights defenders were blocked alongside Kaos GL. By the decision of the Istanbul 7th Criminal Court of Peace dated September 12, numerous accounts were made invisible from Turkey.
What is happening should not be read as isolated events, but rather as a systematic narrowing of the LGBTI+ movement’s spaces for organization, expression, and visibility. In 2026, this pressure is being deliberately increased.
The chronology clearly demonstrates this.
January 2026: LGBTI+ organizations called for the repeal of the “obscenity” provision under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code. During the same period, new anti-LGBTI+ legislative regulations came to the agenda.
February-March: The lawsuit filed against Defne G\u00fczel, President of the May 17 Association, on the grounds of “general morality” and discussions surrounding the new “hate speech law” continued. During March, 26 human rights organizations issued a joint statement against anti-LGBTI+ regulations. On March 8, police interventions and detentions took place to confiscate rainbow-colored banners and flags.
April-May: While the trial of the Youth LGBTI+ Association continued, pressures on trans people’s access to healthcare services and the right to organize persisted. Defne G\u00fczel, President of the May 17 Association, was acquitted at the first hearing; however, the lawsuit itself was part of the trend toward criminalizing LGBTI+ organizing.
June: The scale of the pressure grew significantly. Access to at least 12 LGBTI+-focused dating and social platforms was blocked. The website and social media accounts of Kaos GL were also blocked.
Subsequently, throughout Pride Month, marches in Istanbul, Izmir, and other cities were banned or dispersed through police intervention. According to HRFT (Human Rights Foundation of Turkey) data, during the Pride events in June alone, at least 143 people were detained; access to 86 LGBTI+ and women’s organization\/activist accounts, as well as at least 13 LGBTI+-focused platforms, was blocked.
On June 27, 36 people were detained at the Izmir Pride March, and 65 people were detained at the Istanbul Pride March on June 28. At the end of June, the arrest of Kaos GL Editor-in-Chief Y\u0131ld\u0131z Tar and the targeting of Kaos GL’s digital platforms demonstrated that the pressure was directed not only at street demonstrations, but also at LGBTI+ journalism and public knowledge production.
July: Following an operation targeting a venue in Ankara where LGBTI+ individuals were present, 7 people were arrested.
August: The impact of the pressure on the cultural sphere became more visible. An “obscenity” investigation was launched regarding Mabel Matiz’s song “Ha Leylim” and its music video, and a international travel ban was imposed on the artist. 15 LGBTI+ organizations, including Kaos GL, May 17, SPoD, Pembe Hayat, and \u00dcniKuir, demanded the termination of the investigation.
And now September.
Why is the state intervening more now?
During periods when economic crises, insecurity, unemployment, lack of a future, and social unrest increase, governments sometimes create scapegoats instead of addressing society’s real contradictions.
The government has no options left other than scapegoating and creating a moral panic. These attacks are thus a challenge to socialists to defend our rights.
For this very reason, it would be a major mistake for socialists to push the LGBTI+ issue aside by labeling it “identity politics.” Genuine solidarity is vital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the morning of September 13, we woke up to terrible news regarding the LGBTI+ movement in Turkey.
\nPolice raids were conducted on the homes of the board of directors and supervisory board members of Kaos GL Association. Numerous executives, including alternate members, were detained, and the association building was searched. News reports indicated that more than 10 LGBTI+ activists were taken into custody. At the center of the investigation are allegations of “obscenity” under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code and opposition to the Law on Associations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":76421,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"litci_post_political_author":"Marksizm \u015eimdi!","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3557],"tags":[7014,7019,7016,4048,4049,6728,4580,6173],"class_list":["post-76420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkiye-europe","tag-lbtq","tag-lesbian","tag-lgbtq-2","tag-lgbtqi","tag-oppression","tag-queer","tag-turkey","tag-turkiye"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/litci.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Insan_haklari_heykeli_metin_yurdanur.jpg?fit=576%2C768&ssl=1","fimg_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/litci.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Insan_haklari_heykeli_metin_yurdanur.jpg?fit=576%2C768&ssl=1","categories_names":["T\u00fcrkiye"],"author_info":{"name":"Carlos S.","pic":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdf3a2076204dbf848fa7838fc9e2787f3317262207b35e333f31316e39fce9c?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"political_author":"Marksizm \u015eimdi!","tagline":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76422,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76420\/revisions\/76422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}