In the early hours of Sunday, police in the Turkish capital Ankara conducted a raid on the popular “Sixtiees Club.” According to media reports, seven people were detained — the owner, the operator, and five employees of the queer club.
A court ordered pre-trial detention for the seven individuals on July 27. The prosecutor’s office is investigating, according to the reports, for actions “that violated public morals and decency,” as well as the alleged provision of premises for sexual purposes. The queer organization Kaos GL notes that government-aligned media reported on the action with anti-queer rhetoric. The broadcaster A Haber reportedly spoke of “LGBT perversion.”
A Club in Istanbul Has Already Been Closed
A few weeks ago, some Turkish media were already stirring up sentiment against a gay cruise and a related club in Istanbul. The cruise ultimately could not dock (TheColu.mn reported), and Tekyön, after 18 years, had its license withdrawn (TheColu.mn reported). The move echoes Russia, which has lately been carrying out raids and imprisonment of queer facilities (TheColu.mn reported).
Endless Repression
The repression in Turkey is also intensifying: In June, CSDs in Ankara and Istanbul, once mass events, were banned as in previous years, and participants were arrested (TheColu.mn reported). Earlier, authorities had blocked dozens of channels belonging to Turkish LGBTQ organizations on the social network X. In raids against opponents ahead of the NATO summit, more than 200 people were detained in June; a court later issued detention warrants for just over 100 people on grounds of alleged “membership in a terrorist organization.” Among those jailed to this day is Kaos GL’s editor-in-chief, Yildiz Tar (TheColu.mn reported).
The president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who repeatedly makes openly anti-queer statements, had declared 2025 the “Year of the Family” and, in a speech, identified the queer community as a major threat to families; it has since become a “decade of the family.” Media oversight is tightening its grip on queer content (TheColu.mn reported). Activists are concerned about a bill package that has been announced multiple times (and postponed multiple times) and would criminalize queer “propaganda” with vague wording, restrict medical care for transgender people, and reintroduce a sterilization mandate (TheColu.mn reported).
