Turkish police have arrested at least 162 people and searched the offices of six LGBTQ+ associations in weekend raids designed to support the country's campaign to protect family values.

The Ankara-based LGBTQ+ rights group Kaos GL claimed that beyond arrests, the government had also cut access to dozens of websites and social media accounts belonging to associate groups and rights advocates.

Government says its fulfilling duty to 'protect families and children' 

Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said investigations — prompted by accusations of prostitution and obscenity — were coordinated by prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin and involved judicial proceedings against 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.

"As per the duty to protect families and children given to the state by the constitution, no criminal organization, abuse network or illegal activity which targets children, youths or families will be tolerated!" Gurlek added in a social media post.

Authorities say they seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a gun in weekend police operations targeting gay bars and night clubs as well as a hammam that was said to be a place of prostitution.

The Istanbul prosecutor's office added that it had found evidence indicating that children and minors were being inappropriately swayed on issues tied to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Rights groups say the government is unfairly targeting the LGBTQ+ community, with Kaos GL saying that it had been accused of making "posts containing obscenities" accessible to children.

Erdogan scapegoats LGBTQ+ 'perverts' for falling birthrates, avoiding actual contributing factors

The weekend police operation was dubbed "My Family is Safe" by the government and was part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "Decade of Family and Population" scheme, which is designed to reverse plummeting birthrates in the aging country.

Authorities say it was intended to make sure that society does not see LGBTQ+ activity as "normal" and that raids were carried out to "protect children, the institution of the family, and our shared moral values."

Although same-sex relations are not illegal in the country, homophobia is rife, with President Erdogan blaming LGBTQ "perverts" for Turkey's rapidly declining birthrates.

That would seem a rhetorical diversion from the actual complexity of reasons for the decline, which Erdogan — who has ruled as the country's authoritarian president since 2014 as well as serving as its influential prime minister for 10 years before that — has called "a disaster."

Though Turkey's statistical agency, TurkStat, tracked a sharp decline in the total fertility rate between 2013 and 2023 (from 2.11 to 1.51 ), the shift brings birthrates in the country closer to those in other developed nations.

Observers say the real reasons for the drop are more likely of a structural and institutional nature rather than one chalked up to lifestyle.

Turkey's chronically worsening financial crisis, inflation, skyrocketing housing prices, family unfriendly workplace environments, limited access to affordable childcare, and higher educational and employment rates for women are all considered reasons for Turks to postpone having children, as well as for having fewer when they finally do.

Edited by: Kieran Burke

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