OII Europe expresses its deep concern regarding the intensifying pressures on LGBTI+ rights in Turkey in recent years, due to the government’s systematic policies which have put LGBTI+ individuals in increasing danger. Most recently, many activists, including journalist and LGBTI+ rights defender Yıldız Tar, have been arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully silenced. The persecution of journalists and activists, such as Yıldız Tar, and ordinary citizens who are all an integral part of the struggle for justice and equality and play an instrumental role in fostering public support for the intersex and LGBTI rights movement in Turkey, constitute a direct attack on human rights as a whole.
These developments cannot be disconnected from the attack against democracy and human rights that we are witnessing on a global scale, including in Europe. On 13 January 2025, the Turkish government openly declared 2025 as the so-called “Year of the Family,”. The declaration is being accompanied by hate speech from high-ranking government officials targeting LGBTI+ people, and is contributing to the heightened vulnerability of LGBTI+ activists and human rights defenders, as well as the LGBTI+ community in Turkey as a whole.
The 10th Judicial Reform Package, which is currently on the agenda of the Turkish parliament, aims to introduce criminal sanctions against “any person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviors contrary to innate biological sex and public morality”, and plans similar sanctions for “persons of the same sex [who] perform an engagement or marriage ceremony”.
This bill seeks to shut down LGBTI+ organizations, silence activists and even ordinary citizens through the threat and administration of prison sentences. These actions have one goal: completely abolishing freedom of expression and criminalising the existence of LGBTI+ people.
The President of RTÜK (the Radio and Television Supreme Council), which directs media in favour of the government, along with other government officials, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have openly declared LGBTI+ individuals as “enemies of society,” further fueling hatred and encouraging physical attacks and discrimination. These state-backed hate policies not only threaten the fundamental rights of LGBTI+ people, including the right to life, but also blatantly violate Turkey’s international human rights obligations.
Turkey is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and numerous existing international commitments. We therefore call on the Council of Europe, the European Union, and international human rights bodies and organisations to take a strong stance against these oppressive measures.
We also call on the Turkish parliament to reject efforts to criminalise LGBTI+ people and to take all necessary action for an immediate release of Yıldız Tar as well as other human rights activists and journalists arbitrarily detained in Turkey
As OII Europe, we stand in solidarity with the LGBTI+ community in Turkey. LGBTI+ rights are human rights, and there can be no compromise on these rights!
