'We'll always be here': Activists target Erdogan in US over LGBTQ+ crackdown - Middle East Eye
Activists have targeted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over a crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community, as the president warned of the threat of "global gender-neutralisation policies" at the United Nations General Assembly.
Supporters of the March 19 Platform placed a message on digital billboards in New York's Times Square during Erdogan's US visit, with the words "we'll always be here" alongside an image of singer and entertainer Zeki Muren.
Muren, a widely loved figure across Turkey since the 1950s, was known as a queer icon due to his flamboyant personality and gender-bending dress sense, though he never publicly acknowledged his sexuality.
"Surrounded by rainbow colors, his image is a statement of visibility at a time when LGBTQ+ people and those defending their rights face growing pressure in Turkiye," the group said in a statement.
The March 19 Platform, which is named after the date of the arrest of former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, took the action as a wave of arrests and trials targeting the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters has swept Turkey.
Hundreds of people and organisations have been detained and raided in recent weeks, while hundreds of social media accounts and websites have been banned. More than 80 people have now been formally arrested and remain in jail pending trial.
Detainees have faced charges of "obscenity", "assisting prostitution" and having "financial links abroad", while the government and its supporters have pushed a narrative of protecting family values.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Erdogan cited "gender-neutralisation policies" alongside Islamophobia, AI and food insecurity as one of the major global threats, saying they were a "siege" against children and the "institution of the family".
"We can break the siege only by protecting the family consisting of women and men," he told the assembly.
"Turkey will continue to take initiatives in protecting families and children, in spite of attacks from certain lobby groups."
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey - and social attitudes vary - but the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has increasingly targeted the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.
Erdogan announced earlier this year that 2026 onward would be the "Decade of the Family". The most recent crackdown has been branded the "My Family is Safe" operation by the government.
At the request of the Turkish authorities, X has blocked the accounts of Amnesty International Turkey, the left-wing Evrensel newspaper, Academics for Peace, and the Media and Law Studies Association, among others.
Other accounts blocked include the Sexual Education, Treatment and Research Association (CETAD) - which provides support to people living with HIV - and the Psychiatric Association of Turkey (TPD).
Another major target was Kaos GL, Turkey's most prominent LGBTQ+ organisation, which the Ankara chief prosecutor's office said had seen 21 arrests as part of an investigation.
Speaking to Middle East Eye last week, Kaos GL editor-in-chief Yildiz Tar said that he had never seen such an expansive crackdown.
He said while half of those arrested were journalists and campaigners, the other half was composed of ordinary people who were taken during raids on gay bars and cafes, or from their homes.
"This is a new level of oppression toward LGBTQ activism and existence - and the government is trying to get people to say LGBTQ people are trying to destroy the family," he said.
"The real threat to the family is poverty, lack of social policies, the threat is femicide, and they are trying to cover that lack of policies by demonising LGBTQ people."
