By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
They came before dawn on Sunday, in five cities at once. Police raided the offices of LGBTQ+ rights organizations and HIV-advocacy groups in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Aydın and Mersin, according to reporting by The Guardian. By week's end the dragnet had widened to include journalists covering the story.
Turkish officials framed the sweep as an obscenity crackdown. A government minister said the raids and arrests were meant to "protect families." That is the government's word for it — not an independent finding, and readers should weigh it as such.
The human toll is not in dispute: more than 150 people were arrested during protests against the raids, and demonstrators were teargassed in the streets. The targeting of journalists alongside activists marks an escalation from the LGBTQ+-focused raids of recent years into something closer to a broader press crackdown, though the full scope of who has been charged, and with what, remains unclear from available reporting.
Turkey has for years used morality and obscenity laws to restrict LGBTQ+ organizing; Istanbul Pride marches have been banned and broken up by police since 2015. What's new here is the coordinated, multi-city timing and the inclusion of press in the net — a combination that rights groups are likely to call a test of how far the crackdown will go.
No court dates or formal charges were detailed in the available reporting. This is a developing story; further details on individual cases were not available at filing time.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE –
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."