TAKE ACTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

RELEASE DETAINED LGBTQI+ RIGHTS DEFENDERS

Türkiye UA 102.26

At least 23 LGBTQI+ rights defenders, including board and oversight committee members of Türkiye’s foremost LGBTQI+ rights organization KAOS GL, Janset Kalan, Nedime Erdoğan, Umut Derin, and Selin Berghan, and journalist, Tuğba Tekerek, have been detained alongside more than 100 people in a police operation targeting LGBTQI+ people and organizations that began on September 12. The five named individuals have been remanded in pretrial detention in Ankara’s Sincan prison on charges of ‘obscenity’ and ‘violating the Law on Associations.’ The LGBTQI+ rights defenders and journalist are being deprived of their liberty solely for exercising their human rights.

Call on the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor, Aykut Çelik, to release these LGBTQI+ rights defenders and journalist immediately and unconditionally - send your message using our email writing tool.

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Ankara Chief Public Prose

Aykut

Çelik

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor

Dear Chief Public Prosecutor,

I am concerned about the pretrial detention of at least 23 LGBTQI+ rights defenders, including board and oversight committee members from Türkiye’s foremost LGBTQI+ rights organization KAOS GL, Janset Kalan, Nedime Erdoğan, Umut Derin, and Selin Berghan as well as journalist Tuğba Tekerek. They were detained in the context of the “My Family is Safe” police operation targeting LGBTQI+ people and organizations, which began on September 12. These human rights defenders and journalist were questioned and remanded in pretrial detention on charges of ‘obscenity’ and ‘violating the Law on Associations.’

The accusation of obscenity relates to drawings alleged to be present on KAOS GL’s website and to be accessible for children even though the website has been inaccessible in Türkiye since June 2025. The journalist Tuğba Tekerek remains in pretrial detention for allegedly “being responsible for the organization’s Instagram account,” which she is not. Managing or contributing to an LGBTQI+ organization’s social media account cannot justify deprivation of liberty.

I urge you to drop the charges against the human rights defenders and journalist and ensure their immediate release. Pending their release, they must be held in conditions that meet international standards and all allegations of ill-treatment must be effectively investigated. I further urge you to ensure that their rights to freedom of expression and association are fully protected. I also call for the release of all others detained during the “My Family is Safe” operation solely for exercising their rights or because of who they are.

Yours sincerely,

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