Turkish Police Arrest Dozens in Raids on LGBTQ Bars and Activists' Homes

Turkish police carried out raids on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists on Sunday, arresting at least 60 people, according to officials and activists cited by France 24.

Authorities described the operations as an effort to boost "traditional family values," the report said, though further details on the specific charges or legal justification for the arrests were not provided in the source material.

France 24 reported that Turkey's LGBTQ community has been repeatedly targeted by the government. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously described the movement as "deviant" and referred to its members as "perverts," blaming them for the country's falling birth rate, according to the report.

France 24's Monte Francis spoke with Yildiz Tar, Editor-in-Chief of KaosGL.org, an LGBTQ rights organization, about the raids, though specific comments from that interview were not detailed in the available excerpt.

The scale and specific locations of the raids, along with the current status of those detained, were not fully specified in the source report.