Turkey's raids on LGBT groups: officials say 26 arrested, Kaos GL says at least fifty
Police raided the offices of six LGBT organisations across twelve provinces, NOS reports. Four reports, two counts, and none of them names a person who was taken.
Six offices, twelve provinces. Turkish authorities raided the offices of six LGBT organisations at the weekend, NOS reports, with police operations in twelve provinces and drugs, smuggled alcohol and a firearm seized. Der Standard and Libération call the raids nationwide and give no numbers.
How many were detained — the reports do not agree:
| Outlet | Number | Whose count |
|---|---|---|
| NOS | 26, and at least fifty | the authorities, and Kaos GL |
| Der Standard | 26, in its headline | official |
| Observador | none given | — |
| Libération | none given | — |
Kaos GL says more than ten of those it counts were taken from their own homes, NOS reports. No report we hold reconciles the two figures.
The state's reason runs through all four. Turkey's justice minister, Gürlek, said the operation targets "people who facilitate prostitution" and suspects of producing and spreading obscene content children can reach, Observador reports. NOS carries him placing the raids inside President Erdoğan's "Decade of the Family". Der Standard reports that prosecutors titled the raids the "My Family is Safe" operation, and marks the name as theirs. Libération ties the arrests to Erdoğan's declared plan against the falling birth rate, and notes homosexuality is not a criminal offence in Turkey.
Not settled. Which count is right, and what each one covers. Whether six organisations and twelve provinces hold — NOS is the only report we have that gives those numbers. Who was detained: not one of the four names a person. And what came of the enquiries into people who donated to the groups, which NOS alone carries.
What this is about. Turkey's government is moving against the country's organised LGBT movement, and this weekend it did so through the police and the courts.
How it got here.
- Legal, but not protected. Homosexuality has not been a crime on Turkish soil since the Ottoman Empire's penal code of 1858. Libération and NOS both note that it is still not a criminal offence. There is no law that protects gay people from discrimination.
- A more open decade. In the early 2000s Istanbul held Pride marches, the first in a Muslim-majority country, NOS's correspondent says. By her estimate about 100,000 people marched in 2013.
- The turn. Istanbul Pride has been banned every year since 2015, NOS reports. Marchers who try anyway are regularly arrested. In 2021 President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took Turkey out of the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe treaty on violence against women. His government said the treaty was being used to normalise homosexuality.
- The family agenda. Erdoğan declared 2025 the "Year of the Family" and 2026 to 2035 the "Decade of the Family". He presents it as a response to Turkey's falling birth rate. Justice minister Gürlek placed this weekend's raids inside that programme, NOS reports.
The actors.
- Erdoğan has led Turkey since 2003, as prime minister and then from 2014 as president. His AKP party holds the government.
- Prosecutors and police carried out the operation. Prosecutors called it "My Family is Safe", Der Standard reports.
- Kaos GL, founded in Ankara in 1994, is one of Turkey's oldest LGBT organisations. It gives its own count of arrests.
- IHD, a Turkish human-rights association, called the raids state discrimination, NOS reports.
What is at stake. The government says it is protecting children and families. The groups say the state is targeting their existence. If the investigations hold, LGBT organisations, and possibly the people who fund them, face prosecution even though homosexuality itself stays legal. Turkey has been a candidate to join the European Union since 1999. Its accession talks have been frozen since 2018, and rights and the rule of law are the Union's stated reasons.
Where it stands. People are in custody, and the reports we hold give two counts of how many. Enquiries into donors have been reported. No one has been named, and we hold no report of charges.
What is being argued about
- How many were detained: 26 on official accounts, at least fifty on Kaos GL's
- What the authorities say the raids targeted, and what they called the operation
- Blocked websites, blocked social media accounts and enquiries into donors
- Whose voice is quoted, and whose is not
Claims and verdicts
NOS
NOS
🇳🇱NL ·
public broadcaster · public-service
26 Festnahmen bei landesweiten Razzien gegen LGBT-Vereine in der Türkei
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Read it at Der Standard →
What we have measured
Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'foiled' the manoeuvre ×1Actor named dead uncounted The US is named as the attacker and stated flat, but the dead schoolchildren are neither counted nor named ×1Actors left unnamed the three requesting states are counted, never named ×1Aim attributed and quoted the stated aim is in quotation marks and marked as the service's account ×1
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Observador
Observador
🇵🇹PT ·
digital · independent
Turquia detém ativistas LGBT em operação de grande escala
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What we have measured
Accusation attributed The fuel retailers' charge is attributed, 'accuses'. No government response is carried. ×1Affected person unnamed the woman is not named, and no cause of the eviction is given ×1Analyst verdict as headline one commentator's judgement on European mood is the headline ×1Asserted or attributed the charge against two foreign states is carried as the prime minister's view, not the report's ×1
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NOS
NOS
🇳🇱NL ·
public broadcaster · public-service
26 Festnahmen bei landesweiten Razzien gegen LGBT-Vereine in der Türkei
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Read it at Der Standard →
What we have measured
Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'foiled' the manoeuvre ×1Actor named dead uncounted The US is named as the attacker and stated flat, but the dead schoolchildren are neither counted nor named ×1Actors left unnamed the three requesting states are counted, never named ×1Aim attributed and quoted the stated aim is in quotation marks and marked as the service's account ×1
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NOS
NOS
🇳🇱NL ·
public broadcaster · public-service
26 Festnahmen bei landesweiten Razzien gegen LGBT-Vereine in der Türkei
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Read it at Der Standard →
What we have measured
Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'foiled' the manoeuvre ×1Actor named dead uncounted The US is named as the attacker and stated flat, but the dead schoolchildren are neither counted nor named ×1Actors left unnamed the three requesting states are counted, never named ×1Aim attributed and quoted the stated aim is in quotation marks and marked as the service's account ×1
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L
Libération
Vaste coup de filet en Turquie contre des bars et associations LGBT +
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Read it at Libération →
What we have measured
Accuracy of office Calls him mayor of the département, not the town. ×1Actor label The Houthis are called 'rebels' in the report's own voice. ×1Admission and denial split Separates what the MEP admits (removing the flag) from what she denies (trampling it). ×1Affiliation named links her to a French channel ×1
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Who wrote it
Coverage, outlet by outlet
Observador
Observador
🇵🇹PT ·
digital · independent
Turquia detém ativistas LGBT em operação de grande escala
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Read it at Observador →
What we have measured
Accusation attributed The fuel retailers' charge is attributed, 'accuses'. No government response is carried. ×1Affected person unnamed the woman is not named, and no cause of the eviction is given ×1Analyst verdict as headline one commentator's judgement on European mood is the headline ×1Asserted or attributed the charge against two foreign states is carried as the prime minister's view, not the report's ×1
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— independent
NOS
NOS
🇳🇱NL ·
public broadcaster · public-service
Vaste coup de filet en Turquie contre des bars et associations LGBT +
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Read it at Libération →
What we have measured
Accuracy of office Calls him mayor of the département, not the town. ×1Actor label The Houthis are called 'rebels' in the report's own voice. ×1Admission and denial split Separates what the MEP admits (removing the flag) from what she denies (trampling it). ×1Affiliation named links her to a French channel ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
—
26 Festnahmen bei landesweiten Razzien gegen LGBT-Vereine in der Türkei
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Read it at Der Standard →
What we have measured
Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'foiled' the manoeuvre ×1Actor named dead uncounted The US is named as the attacker and stated flat, but the dead schoolchildren are neither counted nor named ×1Actors left unnamed the three requesting states are counted, never named ×1Aim attributed and quoted the stated aim is in quotation marks and marked as the service's account ×1
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— independent
Deník N
Deník N
🇨🇿CZ ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named The headline names speculators as the actors who evicted a grandmother, stated flat. ×1Asserted, and a government judged A wave of Russian state terrorism is stated as fact and Germany is rated on its response; the piece is labelled a comment ×1Asserted, not attributed Washington's refusal and its reasoning stated flat, with no source ×1Assessment stated flat Says in its own voice, with no source, that Russian air defence worked well. ×1
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El Mundo
El Mundo
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named The dispute is between named Spanish officials over who was warned. There is no figure of Moroccan personnel. ×1Actor named The dispute is between named officials, and the report carries no figure. ×1Asserted, not attributed defiance of a named president is stated flat as what the meeting was ×1Asserted not attributed States Moscow's own reason, retaliation, as fact ×1
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Brussels Signal
Brussels Signal
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Asserted vs attributed cause and effect on services asserted in the reporter's voice, no figure attached ×1Asserted vs attributed States record diesel prices flat, with no source; another report says there is no shortage ×1Asserted vs attributed The figure of 72 is stated flat, with no named source or document. The report's own inference is 'significant infiltration'. ×1Asserted vs attributed record diesel prices stated flat, with no figure and no source ×1
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Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter
🇸🇪SE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Accused label flat accused is labelled far-right without attribution, and not named ×1Affected counted Only report to count the residents affected ×1Asserted or attributed the majority stated flat, with nobody credited for the count ×1Asserted or attributed the demand is written as the report's own flat sentence before it is attributed to anyone ×1
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Efimerida ton Syntakton
Efimerida ton Syntakton
🇬🇷GR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Adjective without figure Calls the war bloody but gives no count ×1Anyone hurt named the only report we hold that names one of the dead ×1Anyone hurt named the only report we hold that names a person who died ×1Asserted not attributed Calls the move 'unprecedented' in its own voice ×1
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Telex
Telex
🇭🇺HU ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor framed as giving The headline makes the government the actor, and what it does is support drivers. ×1Actor named NATO is named as acting; it 'chased them off' ×1Adopted term Uses the government's own phrase 'targeted support' without quotation marks ×1Asserted vs attributed 'under cover of night' attributed to Mária Schmidt, with the ministry's 8pm set beside it ×1
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Welt
Welt
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named The protests named as the cause of both the arrests and the injuries ×1Actor unnamed The party figure calling for a confidence vote is given only by title. ×1Age band without a share the winner's strength among the youngest voters is claimed with no percentage ×1Asserted flat The 'existential crisis' is stated as fact, not attributed to anyone. ×1
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Frankfurter Allgemeine
Frankfurter Allgemeine
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor label The Houthis are called a militia and are cast only as the threat ships need protecting from. ×1With no actor named critics 'After criticism', with no one named as the critic. ×1Anyone hurt counted gives an injury figure, attributed to the ministry, but does not say who was hurt or by whom ×1Asserted flat the report judges the offer vague in its own voice, unattributed ×1
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Rzeczpospolita
Rzeczpospolita
🇵🇱PL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Accountability The only report to say prosecutors are investigating ×1Asserted not attributed Hungary's need for more time is stated as fact, not as the government's claim ×1Claim asserted flat says EU law has never known such an offer, with no lawyer, official or text cited ×1Correction carried the correction is in the lede, attributed to Lithuania ×1
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Le Figaro
Le Figaro
🇫🇷FR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Asserted, not attributed the capture of the strait and a "lightning offensive" are stated flat, with no source and no date ×1Asserted vs attributed The mayor's account and his opponents' charge are both attributed. ×1Asserted vs attributed The capture of the strait is stated flat, as settled background to a different story, with no source and no date for the claim. ×1Attacker identified by nationality in the headline ×1
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Politico Europe
Politico Europe
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor named vaguely The opponents are 'other capitals', with no country named ×1With no actor named accusation The coup accusation is in the passive; the accuser is not named ×1Asserted vs attributed The contradiction is stated as fact by the report, sourced only to unspecified official notes ×1Asserted vs attributed the stall stated flat in the headline, with Athens named as the actor that rejected ×1
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HotNews.ro
HotNews.ro
🇷🇴RO ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Accusation unanswered AUR's claim of a plan agreed between the president and PSD runs in the headline and lede. No reply from the president is carried. ×1Actor named Names the blocs that refuse any exemption ×1Anonymous sourcing The jamming device found in his car rests on unnamed judicial sources, relayed through a news agency. ×1Asserted not attributed the outcome is declared settled before voting opens ×1
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Svenska Dagbladet
Svenska Dagbladet
🇸🇪SE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Attributed context The Iran link is hedged and credited to another newspaper ×1Hedged context Base's use for strikes on Iran is hedged and attributed to another paper ×1Hedged or flat a directional claim about the race stated flat, with no poll figure behind it ×1Loss stated flat, size not given a large loss asserted with no figure, and a coalition demand named in the same line ×1
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Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
🇵🇱PL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Actor named Russia is named as acting against the bridge, in active voice ×1Asserted cause Voters' reason for backing the AfD is stated flat as a fact about the mainstream parties. ×1Asserted, not attributed the three-year gain is stated as what the deal would have secured, with no source ×1Asserted versus attributed the link between the pardons and the US talks is stated flat in the headline ×1
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ABC
ABC
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Figure chosen 80,000, stated flat and unsourced; every other report we hold says about 70,000 ×1Figure chosen 80,000 crossed, stated flat, no source for the number ×1How hard the claim is stated Calls it an invasion in the outlet's own voice, unattributed, inside a sentence about the judge. ×1Which figure is used same two days, no figure at all: thousands ×1
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Die Presse
Die Presse
🇦🇹AT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Who is named as acting Calls the party right and its people the far right in the outlet's own voice; three reports use only its name. ×1
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Il Giornale
Il Giornale
🇮🇹IT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Euractiv
Euractiv
🇧🇪BE ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Measure chosen the only report we hold that breaks the result down by voters' age ×1Measure chosen the only report we hold that publishes how the age groups split ×1Which figure is used about 80,000 stated flat and unsourced — an order of magnitude above every other figure we hold ×1Which figure is used Puts 80,000 across the border in two days with no source for the figure and nobody attributed for it. ×1
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Le Monde
Le Monde
🇫🇷FR ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Anyone hurt named or counted the only death toll we hold; a round number, hedged, nobody named ×1Anyone hurt named or counted the only report we hold that gives a death toll; it counts, does not name ×1Who says the label flat in the headline, no source, no hedge ×1
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El País
El País
🇪🇸ES ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Figure chosen more than 70,000 crossed, the higher figure not mentioned ×1Word for the event invasion, in quote marks and put in a party leader's mouth ×1Word for the event, attributed same word, but in quotation marks and inside a politician's accusation ×1
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la Repubblica
la Repubblica
🇮🇹IT ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
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Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
🇩🇪DE ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Hedged or stated states flat that police do not know whether the person seen is the man they want ×1Suspect identified how age and home town only, and the sabotage is what police attribute, not what the report asserts ×1
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