Turkey moves to dissolve two LGBTQ groups amid nationwide crackdown and mass detentions

Turkish prosecutors have initiated steps to dissolve the Muamma LGBTİ+ Education, Research and Solidarity Association and the Mersin 7 Renk LGBTİ+ Solidarity Association, two groups that support LGBTQ people in the southern province of Mersin. Simultaneously, courts have ordered the pre-trial detention of 28 individuals in Mersin and additional detainees in Ankara, İzmir and Kuşadası, raising the nationwide total to at least 62 under the “My Family Is Safe” operation.

Authorities cite alleged obscenity, prostitution, drug possession and criminal-organization charges, though no final court orders have closed the associations and no convictions have been recorded. The crackdown also saw 14 websites and 186 personal social-media accounts blocked, including those of journalists, NGOs and Amnesty International Turkey. Journalist Tuğba Tekerek was jailed over a single article, and activists attempting to protest outside courts were detained. International organizations such as Amnesty International, the European Commission and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have denounced the raids as violations of freedom of expression and assembly.