A Turkish court has ordered the detention of 16 people pending trial in the western province of Izmir, as part of a government crackdown that has included widespread raids on LGBT+ associations, the prosecutor's office said on Monday, Reuters news agency reported.
The Izmir Chief Prosecutor's Office announced that 18 suspects were detained in the operation called "My Family is Safe", of which 16 were remanded in custody, while two people were placed under judicial supervision.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on Sunday that the investigations, coordinated by prosecutors' offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydın and Mersin, involve 162 suspected individuals, nine associations and 13 companies in 15 provinces.
The government says the operation is aimed at protecting children and family values. Authorities detained 26 people in Istanbul and 21 in Ankara over the weekend, and raided the premises of several LGBT+ associations.
Human rights organizations accuse the government of increasingly targeting the LGBT+ community through rhetoric, restrictions, and legal measures.
The Turkish Human Rights Association described the operation as "state-led discrimination, a politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society."
The European Parliament's rapporteur for Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, described the arrests as a "shocking escalation" of repression.
Prosecutors' offices said the investigations include suspicions of criminal offenses, including prostitution and obscenity, as well as allegations that children and minors were exposed to inappropriate influence regarding issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The operation comes as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promotes the "Decade of Family and Population" initiative, which aims to tackle the declining birth rate and aging population.
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