Turkish authorities detained at least 150 people on Tuesday (September 15) after police intervened at a gathering outside Istanbul's Caglayan courthouse, where demonstrators had planned to protest about recent detentions targeting LGBTQ+ groups, witnesses said.

The detentions marked the latest escalation in what rights groups and opposition figures have described as a widening campaign against the LGBTQ+ community, with authorities over the past week raiding association offices, blocking websites and jailing suspects across multiple provinces.

On Tuesday, a group had gathered to make a press statement, but police prevented them from doing so outside the courthouse.

Protesters chanted "Long live life in defiance of hate" as police moved in.

The protest came after sweeping raids targeting LGBTQ+ associations in several Turkish provinces under an operation dubbed "My Family is Safe", which the government says is aimed at protecting children and family values.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty said on Tuesday he was concerned by the arrests, raids and online restrictions targeting LGBTQ+ civil society and human rights defenders.

He said references to "family values" or the "protection of children" could not in themselves justify human rights restrictions, and called for the release of anyone detained for human rights or civil society work.

A Turkish court on Monday jailed 16 people pending trial in the western province of Izmir as part of the operation, the local prosecutor's office said.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on Sunday the investigations, coordinated by prosecutors in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin, involved 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.

Authorities detained at least 26 people in Istanbul and 21 in Ankara over the weekend and raided the offices of several LGBTQ+ associations.

Turkish authorities have also blocked access to websites and social media accounts belonging to various LGBTQ+ associations, individuals and independent media outlets, including the X account of Amnesty International's Turkey branch.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2026) (REUTERS - Access All)

1. VARIOUS OF POLICE OUTSIDE ISTANBUL'S CAGLAYAN COURTHOUSE

2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED FOR PROTEST, ATTEMPTING TO READ PRESS STATEMENT

3. POLICE NEAR PROTESTERS

4. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS / POLICE TELLING JOURNALISTS TO MOVE AWAY

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2026) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS - Access All)

5. POLICE SCUFFLING WITH PROTESTERS AND GRABBING BANNERS FROM THEIR HANDS

6. VARIOUS PROTESTERS CHANTING, SURROUNDED BY POLICE

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 15, 2026) (REUTERS - Access All)

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER, YUSUF (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), 20, SAYING:

"They've been shoving people, they were trying to trap people inside a protest square, basically. They were closing down, every second the cops, or example, shoved me. That was pretty funny. They were trying to prevent a potential press statement by these people. There were a lot of organisations there, a lot of socialist organisations as well, a lot of LGBTQ organisations. Yeah, the government actually wasn't always like this. Like 20 years ago, you can find (Turkish President Tayyip) Erdogan saying that he wants to protect the rights of LGBTQ people, the citizens of Turkey. And from that, from the 20 years there's been a stark contrast in what the policies that they've been doing. This is just reactionary policies that the government's trying to enact. These are obviously unconstitutional. These are against the law because they can't really touch people's sexuality. But they're doing this under the guise of protecting family values, yada, yada yada."

8. VARIOUS OF POLICE AS PROTESTERS WHO WERE SURROUNDED AND DETAINED ARE BEING PUT ON BUS

9. BUS CARRYING DETAINEES DRIVING AWAY

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PROTESTER, IREM (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), SAYING:

"The atmosphere is certainly tense, though that’s how it always is. It is as if the very act of protesting on the street is itself a crime. While the specific issues might vary, there is an extra layer of pressure when it comes to LGBTQ+ matters, ranging from rainbow flags not being allowed to be displayed to demands that the name is not even mentioned. It’s as if doing so would make people simply vanish, as if the issue itself is not thought about or is not talked about."

11. VARIOUS OF WOMAN WITH BANNER READING (Turkish): "Release the detainees", PROTESTING ALONE OUTSIDE CAGLAYAN COURTHOUSE AFTER LARGER GROUP WAS DETAINED

12. VARIOUS OF OTHERS CLAPPING AS WOMAN PROTESTS

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PROTESTER, TUTKU (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), 26, SAYING:

"We had come here to speak out against the detentions, pressures against these (LGBTQ+) associations. Yet, we were immediately met with a blockade, unable to exercise our democratic right for even two minutes."

14. POLICE DETAINING AND SNATCHING SIGN FROM PROTESTER'S HAND / SCUFFLING AND DETAINING OTHERS FORCEFULLY

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) PROTESTER, TUTKU (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), 26, SAYING:

"The protest was scheduled to start at 12:30 anyway. When I arrived two minutes later, the people had already been surrounded; I couldn't get through. Then, they immediately moved the press away and set up barricades to prevent footage of the torture from being captured. Later on, when a few other friends of ours chanted slogans and held up placards demanding the release of those detained, there was again an immediate intervention, and we found ourselves caught in the middle. We were subjected to torture once again. Because this has become normalized; they are able to do this as if it were a normal thing."

16. VARIOUS OF DETAINEES BEING PUT ON BUS