Human rights groups said on Friday that Turkish authorities have launched a nationwide arrest campaign targeting the LGBTQI+ community and its supporters, and called on the European Union to freeze Ankara’s accession process.
According to the organisations, 241 people have been arrested across the country since last weekend, and at least 82 have been placed in pre-trial detention.
They said the raids have mainly targeted transgender women, who are being prosecuted on what the groups described as arbitrary charges, including prostitution, drugs offences and offences against public morality.
The crackdown then spread to solidarity gatherings held in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, leading to the arrest of a further 125 protesters.
The International Federation for Human Rights, or FIDH, also reported targeted censorship on social media, affecting journalists and activists.
FIDH and its Turkish partner, the Human Rights Association, known as IHD, said the campaign, called 'Ailem Güvend' ('My family is safe'), showed the country’s “relentless erosion” of fundamental freedoms.
They accused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recently declared a 'Decade of the Family and Population,' of using child protection and public morality laws to criminalise the very existence of the LGBTQI+ community.
In response to what they described as an authoritarian turn, the NGOs called for all prosecutions to be dropped.
They urged international actors, especially the European Union, the Council of Europe and United Nations mechanisms, to condemn what they called discriminatory raids and round-ups by the Turkish authorities.
“The EU must clearly recognise that Turkey is incompatible with the Union’s values and therefore suspend its accession process indefinitely by immediately ending pre-accession funding,” said FIDH president Alexis Deswaef.
Deswaef criticised the Turkish government for offering no prospect of redress.
