LGBTQ+ Activists March in Antalya Amid Turkish Crackdown

A 20-year-old activist identified as Őzgür told The Guardian that displaying a rainbow flag “feels a bit dangerous.” She said, “It feels like I am living in a prison in this country. I am running all the time,” adding that the march was possible because international media were watching. Another participant, who gave her name as Beren, said she was excited to wave the flag but wished a transgender friend detained earlier could join her.

The march came amid a government campaign targeting LGBTQ+ organizations, activists and public expressions of queer identity. In September, police raided LGBTQ+ organizations, HIV-support groups, bars and nightclubs in five cities. At least 112 people were arrested, including at least 24 LGBTQ+ activists, organizational founders and executives, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The government named the campaign “My Family Is Safe,” linking it to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s promotion of what his administration calls traditional family values. Erdoğan designated 2026-35 the “Decade of Family and Population.” HRW deputy Europe and Central Asia director Benjamin Ward called the crackdown “a blatant attempt to criminalize and marginalize LGBT people and silence the groups that stand up for their rights.”

Human rights lawyer Levent Pişkin wrote in The Nation last month that the raids marked an escalation in a decadeslong campaign against queer visibility and organizing. On Wednesday, Turkish Minute reported that prosecutors were seeking to dissolve Istanbul-based SPoD, the third LGBTQ+ rights organization targeted for closure in less than two months. Prosecutors cited the group’s 15 years of advocacy; four members face potential prison terms of one to three years, and two have been held in pretrial detention since September. SPoD said: “Organizing is not a crime; it is a right.”