Dozens Arrested at Pride Parades in Istanbul and Izmir

During spontaneous demonstrations as part of the 24th CSD Pride in Istanbul, police officers detained at least 50 people at several locations across the city center on Sunday afternoon. More rallies and arrests could follow.

With small demonstrations that were announced only privately and to a few media representatives, during which the CSD press release outlining demands is often read aloud, activists have in recent years responded to the persistent Pride bans. They repeatedly engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the police, which sometimes also deployed plainclothes officers. Thanks to the activists’ decentralized tactics, there has been less use of water cannons or rubber bullets in recent years than in some previous years.

There was also a ban on demonstrations this year: The governor’s offices under the central government had completely prohibited Sunday events in parts of Kadıköy and Beyoğlu and had closed off several streets and squares.

Part of Sunday’s arrests reportedly began even as people were on their way to potential protests, including some journalists.

In Izmir as well, the Governor’s Office, citing “public morality” and “public order,” banned the CSD. On Saturday, 36 people were detained at the queer protest that nonetheless proceeded and were later released with a fine.

Already last weekend, a good dozen people were detained at the CSD in Ankara and the Trans Pride in Istanbul, both also previously banned.

Years of escalating repression

In the past week, Turkish authorities had already shut down dozens of channels belonging to Turkish LGBTQ+ organizations on the social network X. In early week raids against opposition ahead of the NATO summit next weekend, more than 200 people were arrested; a court later issued warrants for just over 100 people for alleged “membership in a terrorist organization.” Among those detained is the editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ group Kaos GL, Yildiz Tar (TheColu.mn reported). In Istanbul, authorities revoked the license of the successful queer club Tekyön after media sensationalized reports that the operators planned a party on the gay cruise ship Atlantis.

The CSD in Istanbul, once a mass gathering, was banned for the first time in 2015. Since then, almost all queer rights demonstrations on streets or campuses in Turkey have been banned and often blocked with arrests and police violence. Queer cultural events have also been banned multiple times, while media oversight has grown more aggressive toward queer content (TheColu.mn reported).

In recent months, criminal proceedings against queer activists as well as a gay singer have increased (TheColu.mn reported). Activists are concerned about a proposed (and repeatedly delayed) legislative package that would threaten queer “propaganda” with prison terms and restrict medical care for transgender people, along with the reintroduction of compulsory sterilization (TheColu.mn reported). The anti-queer statements repeatedly voiced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had declared 2025 the “Year of the Family,” and in a speech he singled out the queer community as a major threat to families; it has since become a “decade of the family.”