Dozens of people were arrested ahead of, and during, the banned Istanbul Pride march on Sunday (29 June).
Members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies gathered for the march in the Turkish capital, despite it having been banned each year since 2015. The governor of Istanbul, Davut Gül, has said that it “undermines social peace, family structure and moral values”.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed police running to catch protestors who were carrying various LGBTQ+ flags.
Kezban Konukcu, a law-maker from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, who attended the march, told Reuters that at least 30 people had been arrested. Other reports put the figure at more than 50.
Turkish police detained at least 30 people in central Istanbul as they tried to take part in a Pride March, which authorities had banned as part of a years-long clampdown on LGBTQ+ events, an opposition politician said https://t.co/W9VIkVDAG3 pic.twitter.com/uGWm137Wx9
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2025
And a spokesperson for the Istanbul Bar’s Human Rights Centre, wrote on X/Twitter: “Before today’s Istanbul Pride march, four of our colleagues were deprived of their liberty through arbitrary, unjust and illegal detention,” The Guardian reported.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been in office since 2014, is known for his anti-LGBTQ+ stance. Earlier this year, he declared 2025 the Year of the Family and criticised the LGBTQ+ community for supposedly undermining traditional values.
In the past, the president has said he would never be pro-LGBT because the family was sacred. “LGBT will not emerge in this country,” he vowed. “Stand up straight, like a man. That is how our families are.”
While homosexuality is legal in Turkey, LGBTQ+ people lack the rights found in other European countries.
The Muslim-majority nation does not recognise same-sex marriage of civil unions and same-sex adoption is not permitted. There are few legal protections against discrimination, and LGBTQ+ people cannot serve in the military, leaving Turkey to score just five out of a possible 100 on ILGA-Europe’s rainbow map last year.
In 2023, more than 100 people were detained by police during Pride marches in the country.
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