Turkey arrests dozens in crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists

Turkish police have arrested dozens of people as part of the government's recent crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists and venues.

The protesters were detained as they gathered on Tuesday outside Istanbul's main courthouse.

They were calling for the release of another group of LGBTQ+ activists, who were arrested over the weekend in a series of raids on gay bars and at the homes of activists.

The Turkish government has detained members of the LGBTQ+ community and activists as part of a campaign dubbed "My Family is Safe", which the government says has been designed to protect family values.

At Tuesday's protest, people chanted "Long live the struggle for freedom!" and called for the detained activists to be released, news agency AFP reported. Police made several arrests after some demonstrators unfurled a banner reading "Being LGBTQ is not a crime".

"What we are seeing now is deeply disturbing," one protestor told AFP.

Rights groups have described a widening campaign against the LGBTQ+ community. Over the past week the authorities raided association offices, blocked websites and made arrests across multiple provinces.

The government has also blocked or restricted access to the social media accounts and websites of dozens of LGBT, media and rights organisations, according to a post from the NGO Human Rights Watch.

Same-sex relations are not an offence in Turkey but homophobia is common, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described LGBTQ people as "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate.

The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Michael O'Flaherty, has raised concerns about the arrests.

"I am concerned by reports of a series arrests, raids and the blocking of websites and social media accounts targeting LGBTI civil society and human rights defenders across Turkey," he said.

O'Flaherty's statement said that Turkey's Minister of Justice had said the operation was being conducted against 162 individuals, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces under the coordination of several Chief Public Prosecutors' Offices.