Several X and Instagram accounts of rights and media groups were blocked in Turkey following a request from authorities after sweeping raids on LGBTQ groups and gay bars, a watchdog said Monday.
Turkey’s LGBTQ community has been frequently targeted by authorities, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan branding it a “deviant movement” of “perverts”.
Accounts on X and Instagram of the Evrensel newspaper, Amnesty International Turkey, the Academics for Peace and the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) were among those blocked on Monday, according to the Ifod media watchdog.
X blocked the accounts of more than a dozen Turkish LGBTQ organisations and rights groups over the weekend, Ifod said.
Those affected included the Kaos GL rights group and lawyer Levent Piskin, it added.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on Sunday the raids were part of the “Decade of the Family” initiative proclaimed by Erdogan, which he said sought to “protect our children, the institution of the family and social order”.
In a post on X on Monday, Gurlek said the government was “continuing our efforts to protect the family, our children and our youth from all forms of exploitation, obscenity, crime and harmful content”.
“We will show no tolerance for any criminal organisation targeting the institution of the family, the future of our youth and social order,” he wrote.
According to Kaos GL, whose offices were searched and whose executives were detained, prosecutors in Ankara alleged it had published “obscene” content that was accessible to children.
While same-sex relations are legal in Turkey, homophobia remains widespread.
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