Eight press-freedom groups demand release of Turkish journalist detained over LGBT report

On September 13 police detained freelance journalist Tuğba Tekerek at her Istanbul residence and moved her to Ankara, where a court placed her in pre-trial detention on obscenity charges tied to the LGBT magazine Kaos GL. Prosecutors claim she administered the outlet’s Instagram account and that posts contained sexually explicit content, accusations Tekerek denies, stating her sole connection was a 2024 article on LGBT people in Georgia that Kaos GL later shared.

Eight press-freedom and rights groups, among them the Media and Law Studies Association, Progressive Journalists Association and International Press Institute, issued a joint statement demanding her immediate release, the lifting of website and account blocks, and disclosure of the legal basis for the investigations. The case is part of a broader crackdown that began on September 13, targeting 162 individuals, nine associations and 13 businesses linked to LGBT and HIV advocacy, with courts ordering blocks on sites such as Kaos GL, Velvele and news outlets like Evrensel.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek framed the operations as protecting children and public order, a justification rejected by rights groups as a pretext to suppress LGBT activism. The journalists’ coalition also called for protection of source material seized during the raids.