Courts in Ankara and Mersin jailed 32 more people pending trial on Tuesday in cases conducted under Turkey’s “My Family Is Safe” operation, raising the confirmed nationwide total to at least 53 as 15 other people in Ankara awaited court decisions.
Five trans women were jailed in Ankara after prosecutors requested the pretrial detention of 20 people taken into custody in the capital.
The remaining 15 are 14 current or alternate members of the management and audit boards of the Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL) and journalist Tuğba Tekerek. Their questioning by the Ankara Criminal Court of Peace had not begun when the latest reports were published Tuesday evening.
Police had detained 21 people in the Ankara investigation. Prosecutors referred 20 to the court with a request that they be jailed pending trial and released one before the court referral.
In Mersin a court jailed 27 of 33 people referred with prosecutors’ requests for pretrial detention. Six LGBTQ activists were among those referred.
The court status of the other six people in the Mersin group was not immediately reported.
The new rulings increase the confirmed nationwide total from the 21 reported earlier Tuesday to at least 53.
The previous figure comprised 16 people jailed pending trial in İzmir and five in Kuşadası, a district in the western province of Aydın. Two other people in İzmir were released under judicial supervision, while one person detained in Kuşadası was released after questioning by a prosecutor.
Police also detained 26 people in the İstanbul-led investigation. Their court status has not been announced. No verified nationwide detention total has been released.
The Ankara investigation concerns allegations of obscenity and violations of Turkey’s Associations Law.
Prosecutors claimed in their referral that Kaos GL’s activities and social media posts violated “general morality” and offended public standards of decency. They also alleged that some posts promoted the idea that people can choose their gender and that drawings depicting children encouraged homosexuality.
The referral did not identify evidence that the individuals had committed violent offenses.
Tekerek was detained over an October 2024 report she prepared for Kaos GL about the situation of LGBTQ people during Georgia’s elections.
The article covered the Georgian Dream party’s anti-LGBTQ campaign, legislation titled “Family Values and the Protection of Minors” and the security concerns of Tbilisi Pride leader Tamar Jakeli.
The Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) condemned the use of journalistic work as the basis for Tekerek’s detention and called for her release.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry has also instructed prosecutors in all 81 provinces to review complaints about material that it claims exposes children to obscenity or promotes “genderlessness.”
The instructions were sent to 175 chief public prosecutors’ offices serving high criminal courts. They call for digital evidence to be collected and online access restrictions to be requested when prosecutors consider them necessary.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced that 162 people, nine associations and 13 businesses were subject to legal proceedings in 15 provinces.
The separate investigations include allegations of obscenity, prostitution and drug offenses. The İstanbul file also includes an allegation of establishing a criminal organization.
Gürlek said Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) was examining funds transfers from foreign public bodies and other overseas organizations to some of the associations.
Courts have blocked websites and social media accounts belonging to LGBTQ groups, journalists and rights organizations, including Amnesty International’s Turkey branch, the Evrensel newspaper, Academics for Peace and the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Labor Party (EMEP) Gaziantep lawmaker Sevda Karaca brought the raids and access bans before parliament in a written question to Gürlek.
Karaca said the Ankara case file did not identify a specific Kaos GL publication or post supporting the obscenity allegation. She asked whether protecting the family could be used to justify hostility toward LGBTQ people and said presenting the family as inherently safe ignored violence within families.
Police detained at least 150 people on Tuesday after preventing a protest outside İstanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse, Reuters reported.
Some 200 people had gathered in İzmir on Monday to protest the raids. Police fired tear gas, prevented demonstrators from displaying rainbow flags and detained two people, including a lawyer.
US senator urges sanctions legislation
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Congress to pass the Global Respect Act in response to the Turkish operations.
The bill would allow the United States to deny or revoke visas for foreign nationals found responsible for serious human rights abuses against LGBTQ people. It has not become law.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Andrea Bolaños Vargas called for the release of anyone detained solely for legitimate human rights work.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Gina Romero said she was appalled by the operation and would raise it with the Turkish government.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty warned that advocacy for equality and nondiscrimination is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.
He said references to family values or the protection of children cannot by themselves justify restrictions on human rights.
O’Flaherty also expressed concern about reports that defense lawyers had been denied access to investigation files and that suspects were required to retain separate lawyers without individualized evidence of conflicts of interest.
He called for the release of anyone detained for human rights or civil society work and urged Turkey to guarantee access to lawyers, judicial review, protection from ill-treatment and the presumption of innocence.
Same-sex relations are legal in Turkey, but President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have increased restrictions and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in recent years.
İstanbul Pride has been banned each year since 2015, and police have detained hundreds of people attempting to participate.
The operation is linked to Erdoğan’s 2026 to 2035 “Decade of Family and Population,” a government program intended to address declining birth rates and an aging population.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
