Overview
- A coordinated series of dawn raids began in mid-September across roughly 12–15 provinces under an operation called “My Family is Safe,” with prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin overseeing investigations.
- Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said about 162 people, nine associations and 13 businesses are under investigation, and courts have jailed eight members of Kaos GL pending trial with several others released under judicial supervision.
- Prosecutors have charged suspects with offences described as obscenity, assisting prostitution and having financial links abroad, and court documents cite social media posts and alleged publication of material accessible to children as evidence.
- Turkish authorities have requested blocks on websites and social accounts for Kaos GL, Amnesty International Turkey and other groups, and police detained between 126 and 150 people who protested the raids in Ankara and Istanbul.
- Domestic rights groups and European institutions have condemned the campaign as discriminatory and a squeeze on civil society, raising the risk of deeper tensions with the EU and new constraints on NGOs, foreign funding and public advocacy.