More than fifty people, including a journalist, were arrested by police and a gay bar was administratively closed this Pride weekend in Istanbul. Turkish authorities had banned the demonstration, as every year since 2015.
This weekend, the Turkish authorities were once again at the forefront of anti-LGBT repression. As has been the case since 2015, a year after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power, the 2026 Istanbul Pride march was banned by the authorities. To enforce this decision, the city’s main gathering sites were placed under heightened surveillance on Sunday, June 28, the date when Pride was scheduled. Taksim Square, the epicenter of civic mobilizations, was completely sealed off by the police to prevent any gathering. Several metro stations were also closed, and the Kadıköy district on the Asian side was inaccessible.
Unable to organize an official parade, the organizers once again adapted their strategy. They announced at the last moment several locations where multiple small groups managed to gather, flying rainbow flags, before being quickly dispersed. At least 50 people were arrested, AFP reports, among them journalist Müberra Ünsal, who was detained while covering the gatherings.
But these arrests did not deter the protesters, determined to multiply gathering points to make the demonstration possible. “We do not give up. We will keep marching in the streets, wherever we are”, they shouted. A banner of support was unfurled on the same day on the facade of the Istanbul Bar Association stating that “LGBT rights are human rights”.
Bar closure and threatened journalist
The Union of Turkish Journalists expressed concern, on X, about the arrest of their colleague: “Journalists covering Istanbul’s Pride march are once again facing illegal hindrances”, the union denounced, recalling that she had “on several occasions presented herself as a journalist” before being placed in custody.
This weekend, the Istanbul governorate also ordered the administrative closure of Tek Yön, one of the last claimed gay bars in the city, located in the Beyoğlu district. While authorities cite “practices not in compliance with regulations,” this decision comes mainly after several days of campaigning by Islamist groups against the establishment’s owner. He is also accused of having scheduled the arrival of an LGBT cruise in Istanbul. The “Scarlet Lady,” whose passengers were due to dock on Turkish shores on July 8, will ultimately be denied disembarkation.
Anti-LGBT Crusade
It was in 2015 that a turning point occurred for the Pride march, banned by the authorities since. The first time, officially for safety reasons as the demonstration fell during Ramadan in this predominantly Muslim country. Since taking power in 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has implemented state-sponsored homophobia, targeting LGBTQI+ people whom he accuses of infringing upon the “family values“, calling them “perverts” or making them responsible for the decline in birth rates in the country. “Neoliberal cultural trends cross borders and penetrate every corner of the world. They push LGBT and other movements to gain ground“, he declared when launching the “Year of the Family” campaign in 2025.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey; the city even hosted one of the largest Pride events in the Middle East in 2014. That year, the last year before the ban, nearly 100,000 people marched through the streets of the city. Since then, Istanbul’s queer life has become clandestine, harassed by the authorities.
