Two months into Türkiye’s “My Family Is Safe” crackdown, the target is getting narrower and the message clearer. The newest wave of raids went after trans women, and prosecutors pointed to what they had posted online.

What happened in late October

Police detained 45 people, most of them trans women, in simultaneous raids across seven cities: Ankara, Diyarbakır, Mardin, Çankırı, İstanbul, Bolu and Antalya. bianet dates the raids to October 24; the Ankara-based LGBTI+ group ÜniKuir and TGEU give October 23.

The investigation was run by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to bianet, prosecutors said the detainees’ social media posts contained material “contrary to public morality, targeting families, children and young people or harming their development,” and “encouraging gender-neutralization and disrupting public order.”

The We Want Freedom Campaign answered with three words: “Stop inventing crimes!” It said “encouraging gender-neutralization” refers to “a non-existent crime.”

Who was jailed

ÜniKuir, whose lawyers are following the cases, reported the outcome so far:

  • 19 people were arrested in the prostitution case, under Article 227 of the Turkish Penal Code, including nine trans women. Four others were released under judicial supervision.
  • In the obscenity case, ten people, including two trans women, were released under judicial supervision.
  • One of those affected is a Syrian trans woman.

(TGEU’s statement puts the number of trans women among the 19 at ten. We use ÜniKuir’s figure because it comes from the lawyers monitoring the case.)

Then İzmir

On November 3, police raided homes in İzmir’s Bornova district early in the morning and detained 12 trans women, bianet reported. The We Want Freedom Campaign said they were accused of “encouraging, facilitating or coercing prostitution” and “forming an organization to commit crimes.” Prosecutors put a confidentiality order on the file, so the details are unclear. The İzmir prosecutor’s office said the investigation began after “numerous complaints.”

The campaign’s response was blunt: “trans identity itself is directly being targeted by the state.” It also pointed out that sex work “is not prohibited by law in Turkey, is not a crime.”

TGEU’s November 4 statement counts 22 people, including trans women, detained on those same charges on November 3.

Inside the cells

ÜniKuir’s report on the October detentions describes conditions that break basic standards:

  • The vice squad’s cells didn’t have enough space, so some trans women were held with people detained for theft and robbery.
  • On the first day, people in the robbery cell weren’t taken to a toilet because staff didn’t show up. They had to use their food containers.
  • Detainees described poor cells and poor food, and some couldn’t use the night blankets because of the smell.

No complaints of police mistreatment were filed, ÜniKuir notes. But the wider picture is grim. In October, TGEU reported that trans people jailed in this crackdown describe strip searches, “detention arrangements that do not match their gender identity,” and “barriers to hormone treatment and HIV medication.”

How we got here

The operation began on September 12. By bianet’s count, 82 people from the September raids are still jailed pending trial, most of them facing obscenity charges; TGEU counted at least 83 people in pre-trial detention in early October. We covered the first raids, the mass detentions outside the courthouse and the UN experts’ call to end the operation.

What’s new is the focus. According to TGEU’s joint statement, authorities are now leaning on “promotion of prostitution” and obscenity-related charges that, in its words, target trans women based on their identity, and they have blocked the social media accounts of most LGBTI and human rights organisations.

What rights groups want

TGEU, the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance (ESWA), the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) issued a joint statement on November 4. They ask:

  • UN experts on human rights defenders, sexual orientation and gender identity, and health to send urgent communications and publicly call for releases.
  • The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner and anti-torture committee (CPT) to scrutinise detention conditions, including the CPT’s guidance on trans prisoners.
  • EU institutions to follow up on the European Parliament’s September debate and include trans women and sex workers in consultations.
  • Embassies to attend hearings and raise individual cases.
  • Donors to send fast, flexible money to trans-led and sex worker-led groups.

Why it matters

Same-sex relationships are legal in Türkiye, and so, as activists keep saying, is sex work. This crackdown works around that by stretching vague offences like obscenity and “public morality” until they cover social media posts and, critics say, simply being visibly trans. That’s why the We Want Freedom Campaign says trans identity itself is now the target.

The trans women detained in October and November have lawyers from Pembe Hayat, Red Umbrella, Kaos GL and ÜniKuir beside them. The rest of us can keep the story in front of the people who have the power to ask questions: the UN, the Council of Europe and the embassies in Ankara.