UN human rights experts on Tuesday condemned what they called a “severe crackdown” on LGBTQ organizations in Turkey, saying legitimate human rights work was being unduly restricted.
Turkey’s LGBTQ community has faced growing government pressure, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan describing it as a “deviant movement” of “perverts.”
The latest crackdown has included raids on gay bars, nightclubs and the homes of activists and community members.
“Turkey must end the harassment of LGBTI human rights defenders and organisations and ensure a safe and enabling environment in which they can exercise their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and continue their legitimate work without fear of arrest, intimidation, stigmatisation or criminalisation,” the experts said in a statement.Although same-sex relations are legal in Turkey, hostility toward LGBTQ people remains widespread.
The experts said Turkey’s Justice Ministry had announced judicial measures against more than 160 people and 20 associations and businesses.
On September 30, as part of its “My Family Is Safe” operation, Turkey shut down the website and social media accounts of T24, a leading independent digital news outlet, citing its “LGBT propaganda.”
“We are concerned that investigations reportedly invoke offences relating to ‘obscenity’, ‘morality’ and prostitution, alongside official statements describing associations as promoting ‘LGBT and immorality’ and the framing of LGBTI persons as a threat to families,” the experts said.
“We demand an immediate end to the so-called ‘My Family Is Safe’ operation.
“We demand the immediate release of persons detained solely for their legitimate human rights work.”
The statement’s signatories included the UN special rapporteurs on human rights defenders, the independence of judges, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful association, as well as the independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The experts are independent figures appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and do not speak for the United Nations itself. They said they were in contact with the Turkish government over the crackdown.
Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has said the operation was launched as part of Erdoğan’s “Decade of the Family,” aimed at “protecting our children, the institution of the family and social order.”
© Agence France-Presse