Turkish police arrested at least 30 individuals in Istanbul’s center on Sunday as they tried to take part in a prohibited Pride March, part of a years-long crackdown on LGBTQ+ activities in the nation, said an opposition legislator.
Video from Reuters captured police officers tussling with demonstrators holding rainbow flags before arresting them and ushering them into police vans. The protest had been prohibited by the governor’s office in Istanbul, claiming that involved groups were violating the law.
Kezban Konukcu, a DEM Party politician and member of parliament who took part in the march in solidarity, verified to Reuters that at least 30 people were apprehended. Turkish police were not immediately available for comment to the media.
Pride parades have been prohibited in Istanbul since 2015, on the grounds of public order and security, according to the authorities. Yet critics suggest that the bans are part of a larger trend of repression of the LGBTQ+ community under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-inspired Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has ratcheted up its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in recent years.
In January, Erdogan declared 2025 the “Year of the Family,” positioning the LGBTQ+ movement as a challenge to traditional Turkish values and the family itself. He denounced gender equality efforts as trying to “neutralize” family structures and warned of diminishing birth rates as a threat to the nation.
Human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have condemned Turkey’s increasing hostility towards LGBTQ+ people, warning that government language is contributing to a rise in discrimination and violence.
Despite the bans and risks, small activist groups continue to organize events to mark Pride Week, viewing the escalating police crackdowns as part of a wider erosion of civil liberties and freedom of assembly in Turkey.