Turkish court jails 16 in Izmir after raids on LGBTQ+ groups

A Turkish court ordered the detention of 16 people pending trial in the western province of Izmir as part of a government campaign that has included sweeping raids on LGBTQ+ associations, a prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

The Izmir chief prosecutor’s office said 18 suspects had been detained under the “My Family is Safe” operation, with 16 of them ordered to be remanded in jail and the other two placed under judicial supervision.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on Sunday the investigations, coordinated by prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin, involved 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.

The government says the operation is aimed at protecting children and family values.

Authorities detained 26 people in Istanbul and 21 in Ankara over the weekend and raided the offices of several LGBTQ+ associations.

Rights groups accuse the government of increasingly targeting the LGBTQ+ community through rhetoric, restrictions and legal measures.

The Turkish Human Rights Association described the operation as “state-led discrimination, politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society”.

Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, called the arrests “a shocking escalation” of repression.

Prosecutors have said the investigations cover alleged offences including prostitution and obscenity, and that children and minors were being inappropriately influenced on issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The operation comes as President Tayyip Erdogan promotes a “Decade of Family and Population” aimed at tackling falling birth rates and an ageing demographic.