LGBTQ rights groups in Turkey on Wednesday called for the immediate release of journalist and activist Yıldız Tar and others detained in sweeping raids ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, saying the operation treated rights advocacy, journalism and civil society work as security threats, the Bianet news website reported.
The groups said the detentions went beyond people accused by authorities of links to armed groups and also swept up LGBTQ, women’s rights and feminist activists, lawyers, academics, labor representatives, human rights defenders and young people. They said the raids were part of a broader attempt to criminalize democratic organizing in Turkey.
“Being a journalist, lawyer or academic is not a crime. LGBTQ rights advocacy is not a crime,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The statement was signed by 15 organizations, including the 17 May Association, Kaos GL, Lambdaistanbul, Pembe Hayat, SPoD, ÜniKuir and other LGBTQ and human rights groups.
Turkish authorities detained 209 people in Ankara on Tuesday after prosecutors issued warrants for 241 suspects. Officials described the raids as a counterterrorism operation targeting people suspected of ties to terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), a far-left militant group.
The LGBTQ groups said some of those detained had previously been publicly targeted, while others had no known investigation or court case against them. They said the operation showed that authorities were not focused only on individual suspects but were targeting LGBTQ activism, feminist organizing, labor groups, youth movements, human rights work and other forms of democratic association.
“Rights defenders are not a security threat,” the groups said. “Freedom of association cannot be targeted under this pretext.”
The raids came as Turkey prepares to host NATO leaders in Ankara on July 7-8. Authorities have announced heightened security measures in the capital, including restrictions on public gatherings and demonstrations.
The rights groups said operations carried out in the name of NATO security deepened a climate of fear and reflected a policy that portrays social opposition and rights campaigns as enemies.
Tar, the editor-in-chief of Kaos GL, one of Turkey’s leading LGBTQ news outlets and rights organizations, was detained on Tuesday, one day before a scheduled hearing in a separate case against the outlet. The groups described Tar’s detention as a direct attack on LGBTQ journalism, advocacy, freedom of association and the movement’s institutional memory.
“Yıldız Tar is not alone. LGBTQ journalism cannot be silenced,” the statement said.
The groups called for Tar and all other detainees to be released immediately. They also urged authorities to lift restrictions on lawyers’ access to the detainees and to remove a confidentiality order in the case.
Turkey’s LGBTQ community has faced increasing government pressure in recent years, including bans on Pride events, police interventions at demonstrations and hostile rhetoric from senior officials. Rights groups say the latest raids fit a larger pattern of shrinking space for civil society, independent journalism and dissent.
