Turkey’s New LGBT Crackdown Should Scare Everyone

Sep 23, 2026 | With Yıldız Tar, a LGBTQI+ and human rights defender in Turkey and the Editor-in-Chief of KaosGL.org

Dozens Detained in Türkiye Crackdown Targeting LGBTQ+ Activists | ABC NEWS

Sep 18, 2026 | Turkish authorities have detained dozens of LGBTQ+ activists and journalists in a wave of raids across the country. Homosexuality is not illegal in Türkiye, but the country's justice minister said the crackdown aims to "protect children, the institution of family, and social order."

Turkey's LGBTQ+ Crackdown – "Everything Can Go Darker and Darker" | DW News

Sep 17, 2026 | More than 200 people have been detained in Turkey in a widening crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. At least 60 have now been jailed, according to a legal rights group. Police raided bars, LGBTQ+ organizations and activists' homes across 15 provinces – and protests against the crackdown have also been met with mass arrests. The government says it is protecting children and the family. LGBTQ+ activists say they are being targeted simply for who they are. So what is happening in Turkey and how far could it go?

LGBTQ 'a Threat to Erdogan's Ideal of a Strong, Masculine State', Expert Says • FRANCE 24 English

Sep 16, 2026 | Turkish courts have jailed more LGBTQ activists and supporters, raising to 62 the number remanded in custody following a weekend crackdown, a legal rights group said on Wednesday. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Koen Slootmaeckers, Reader in International Politics at City St George's, University of London, says that Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan wants to claim "the idea of a strong, masculine state and LGBTQ people are a threat to this ideal".

Turkey's LGBTQ+ Crackdown – "Everything Can Go Darker and Darker" | DW News

Turkish authorities have launched sweeping raids last weekend targeting LGBTQ+ organizations, venues and activists in Istanbul and other cities. The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it is protecting children and traditional family values, while rights groups say queer people are facing growing pressure simply for who they are.
Erdogan is living in the past. He is completely out of touch with young people in Turkey — their needs, desires, and aspirations. For as long as he treats poor, downtrodden gay people in this despicable manner, he can forget ever joining the European Union. The European Union is a fair-minded, liberal, supranational union which guarantees people’s human rights; and that INCLUDES people’s right to love whomsoever they please, same-sex or not. This is the atrocious treatment Erdogan meets out to the LGBTQ+ community in Turkey. By the way, the declining birth rate is indeed a problem across the world; but gays are not to blame for that. How many babies does Erdogan realistically believe suppressed gays would ever sire? Taking away gays’ rights is not going to magically increase the birth rate in Turkey!

Turkey’s LGBTQ+ Crackdown

Sep 15, 2026 | Turkish authorities have detained at least 150 people at a protest after police targeted gay bars and the homes of the LGBTQ+ community.

Demonstrators were confronted by police as they gathered outside a court in Istanbul. Dozens were arrested over the weekend in the police crackdown.

The government says it is part of a push to protect traditional family values.


Related video here »

Dozens Arrested in Major Anti-LGBTQ Raids in Turkey • FRANCE 24 English

Sep 14, 2026 | Turkish police on Sunday swooped on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said.

Turkey's LGBTQ community has frequently been targeted by the government, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashing it as a "deviant movement" of "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate.

FRANCE 24's Monte Francis speaks with Yildiz Tar, Editor-in-Chief of KaosGL.org.

Massive New Mideast Trip Wire as Sunni Muslim Nations Unite

August 7, 2026 | Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a landmark mutual-defense agreement, declaring that an armed attack on one nation will be treated as an attack on all three.

David Shuster breaks it down on Rebel HQ.


Un article connexe figure ici »

Protests in Turkey after Court Targets Opposition Party | DW News

May 22, 2026 | A controversial court ruling in Turkey is shaking the country’s largest opposition party. Judges annulled the CHP’s leadership election, side-lining its current head and reinstating his predecessor. Critics see this as part of broader pressure on the opposition, following recent electoral gains against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party. With protests already underway and uncertainty growing, we ask: why is the judiciary intervening - and what does this mean for Turkey’s political future?

Wildfires Burn in Turkey and as Early Heatwave Hits Europe | DW News

June 30, 2025 | Wildfires across Turkey, fanned by strong winds, have spread to residential areas in the western province of Izmir and elsewhere. Recent years have seen Turkey's coastal areas ravaged by wildfires, as summers become hotter and drier. Countries across southern Europe are sweltering under soaring temperatures. Authorities in Italy and France have issued health and wildfire warnings, while Spain and Portugal saw weekend temperatures hit 46° Celsius.

Türkiye’s Thriving Hair Transplant Industry | ABC News

Apr 8, 2024 | Turkiye is becoming the undisputed capital of the thriving ' hair transplant' industry.

Read more here.

Süleyman the Magnificent, 1987 | From the Vaults | The Met

Jul 31, 2020 | Süleyman (or Süleiman) the Magnificent was the longest-reigning emperor of the Ottoman empire. Known for his military campaigns spanning three continents, as well as his religious tolerance and masterful diplomacy, he was also a poet, goldsmith, and dedicated patron of the arts.

His rule brought a golden age of artistic and literary production to the Ottoman empire, exemplified by richly patterned textiles, pottery, calligraphy, and several monumental buildings by the architect Sinan.

Shot on location in Istanbul, Edirne, and the Turkish countryside.
Narrated by Ian McKellan.

Queer Life under Erdogan | DW Documentary

Jul 10, 2024 | Today, Pembe Özkan lives in Turkey. Before that she’d lived almost her entire life in Germany, where she came out and married a woman.

After divorcing her wife, Pembe returned to her home country. Now, she lives in İzmir, known as the most liberal-minded city in Turkey. That has made it something of a magnet for gay men and women, trans people and anyone else who wishes to pursue a lifestyle different from the one Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan envisions for Turkey’s people. We meet up with Pembe, who now has to brave the repressive atmosphere in Turkey. A report by Almut Röhrl.

Turkey Wants to Be Called Türkiye in Rebranding Move

BBC: Turkey will be known as Türkiye at the United Nations from now on, after it agreed to a formal request from Ankara.

Several international bodies will be asked to make the name change as part of a rebranding campaign launched by the Turkish president late last year.

"Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people's culture, civilization, and values," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in December.

The UN says it made the change as soon as it received the request this week.

Most Turks already know their country as Türkiye. However the anglicised form Turkey is widely used, even within the country.

State broadcaster TRT was quick to make the change as soon as it was announced last year, explaining that among the reasons for the image rebrand was the association with the bird traditionally associated with Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving.

It also pointed out the Cambridge English Dictionary's definition of one of the meanings of the word as "something that fails badly" or "a stupid or silly person". » | Tiffany Wertheimer, BBC News | Thursday, June 2, 2022