More than 80 people remain in custody across five provinces as part of operations carried out under the name "Family Is Safe," targeting LGBTI+ rights defenders. An indictment has been prepared in only one of the investigations.
While appeals against pre-trial detentions have been rejected, rights violations have been reported in prisons regarding access to healthcare, living conditions, and treatment of trans prisoners.
İdil Arslanbaş, a lawyer for the 17 May Association, spoke about the current stage of the investigations in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Mersin, and Kuşadası, the delays in indictments, rights violations during detention and in prison, and the accusations against LGBTI+ organizing.
Explained: Turkey's 'My Family Is Safe' operations
At least 80 people detained across five cities
According to current information provided by Arslanbaş, at least 80 people remain detained in investigations across different cities:
- In İstanbul, 20 people, including nine activists, are in pre-trial detention. Appeals against their detention were rejected. Indictments may be delayed due to waiting to take statements from individuals who have not yet given their statements.
- In Ankara, eight people, including seven people serving in organs of Kaos GL and journalist Tuğba Tekerek, are detained. An indictment was also prepared in a separate file involving five detained trans women. The first hearing will take place on Nov 12.
- In İzmir, 18 trans women are in custody. One person was released during the appeal process.
- In Mersin, one person was released following an appeal against pre-trial detention, and four people were released at the detention review stage. Twenty-three trans women remain detained.
- In Kuşadası, detention orders were issued for four people. With one person who was released but then detained as part of another file, the total number stands at five.
Arslanbaş said it remains uncertain when the indictments will be prepared for the investigations in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Mersin, and Kuşadası.
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'Evidence collection was left until after detention'
About the delay in filing indictments, Arslanbaş argued that the investigations had been launched with an operation-first approach, before sufficient evidence was gathered:
"These files are not based on investigations with sufficient depth prior to detention. They are files created very quickly, with an operation-driven mindset, which is why the evidence collection phase was left until after the detentions.
"In fact, there is a situation where individuals were targeted first, then crimes were searched for, and then evidence was sought. Therefore, there is no concrete evidence. In fact, because there is no concrete evidence, we believe that some of the obtained information was disseminated on social media through judicial authorities."
Arslanbaş described the continued pre-trial detention as a form of punishment:
"The delay in indictments and the continuation of detentions show us that throughout this process, pre-trial detention is being applied directly as a form of punishment rather than an exceptional measure.
"Therefore, our friends have essentially been taken hostage because they are disliked by the government. The legal foundation for this was created in the background, and we are fighting against it."
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Attorney restrictions in custody, discriminatory practices in prison
Arslanbaş stated that numerous rights violations have occurred since the initial days of the operations.
They said people were detained during midnight home raids, their phones and computers were seized, and some were placed into police vehicles with their hands cuffed behind their backs while being recorded on video.
LGBTI+ detainees in Mersin prison report difficulties in accessing clothing, medication
Arslanbaş noted that following poor detention conditions and restrictions on lawyer consultations in custody, discriminatory practices continued in prison.
According to Arslanbaş, LGBTI+s whose official records list their gender as male were sent for communicable disease tests in a stigmatizing manner and kept in cells until the results came out. Despite court orders and medical reports, procedures regarding the placement of trans prisoners were left unresolved for a long time. Inter-prison transfers, strip searches, and delays in access to healthcare services were also among the violations they detailed.
'They wrote petitions every day for weeks to go to the infirmary'
Stating that drinking water in prisons could only be accessed for a fee and external medication was not permitted, Arslanbaş said some prisoners had to write petitions every day for weeks just to visit the infirmary.
They noted that corrections of dosage errors in prescribed medications were delayed, and some prisoners still could not access their eyeglasses.
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Arslanbaş mentioned examples where 40 people stayed in 24-person wards, and four people stayed in two-person rooms. They added that prisoners transferred to the hospital could spend the entire day in hospital detention rooms, and arbitrary restrictions were imposed on clothing.
Thw lawyer emphasized that they must also consider the risk of retaliation in applications made against rights violations:
"In applications regarding these issues, we must also consider the risk of retaliation so that the applications made do not negatively affect our friends' situation even further."
'LGBTI+ existence is treated as if it were a crime'
Arslanbaş argued that LGBTI+ visibility is treated under the scope of obscenity, while the activities of legally operating associations are viewed as crimes:
"From one night onward, any activity regarding LGBTI+ existence and visibility was treated as if it constituted the crime of obscenity on the grounds that it could negatively affect child development. LGBTI+ existence was directly targeted.
"We are actually facing a strange construct where LGBTI+ visibility itself constitutes an obscenity offense, which is evaluated as sharing obscene content where children can see it; where the routine activities of associations established under freedom of association and subject to continuous audits are seen as the organization of this crime, and where income and expenses, all reported to the Interior Ministry, are seen as the financing of this crime.
"Because there was no change in the law on this matter either. Despite this, prosecutors are acting as if there is something called LGBTI+ promotion and as if it has been accepted as a crime."
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Arslanbaş said the operations were targeting LGBTI+s' freedom of association, pointing to access restrictions as well as judicial and administrative proceedings against associations:
"The existence of LGBTI+s was also made possible by their ability to come together, raise their voices, and organize.
"We are in a process where all of these are sought to be prevented—both through access blocks, by depriving people working in this field of their freedom, and through judicial and administrative actions against associations working in this field."
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'Future violation rulings do not change today's detention'
Arslanbaş said that due to ongoing problems in Turkey regarding freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the prohibition of discrimination, their expectations from judicial processes are low.
They drew attention to the importance of social solidarity alongside the legal struggle:
"Since issues such as freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the prohibition of discrimination have become very grave in our country beyond just LGBTI+s—and are becoming increasingly graver—it can be said that our legal expectations are not high. Ultimately, these are political operations.
"Only to the extent that society and social opposition oppose them and we raise our voices will we be able to achieve results. Otherwise, since the process so far has not functioned on the basis of law, violation decisions we might receive regarding this process in the future do not change the fact that our friends are currently still deprived of their freedom."
(NÖ/VK)