Rights groups condemn Turkey’s closure of LGBT X accounts

Turkey’s decision to block about 40 X accounts linked to feminist or LGBT groups constitutes “an extremely serious and disproportionate infringement of free speech,” a Turkish rights group said Saturday.

Access to the X accounts of numerous LGBTI+ and women’s organizations has been blocked in Turkey for “reasons of national security and public order” at the request of authorities, said a statement from Engelliweb, which tracks access restrictions in Turkey.

“These access restrictions constitute an unacceptable practice that hinders the exercise of LGBT+ people’s rights at a time when information and calls to take part in Pride Month events and marches are intensifying,” said an alliance of 22 rights groups, including Amnesty International’s Turkish branch.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but the annual Pride march has been almost systematically banned and suppressed since 2015. The LGBT+ community is frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who blames it for falling birth rates.

“The institutions that bind society together and safeguard its future, particularly the family, are being targeted by certain quarters,” Erdoğan said on Saturday.

“These same groups are attempting to instill in young people deviant behaviors that run counter to human nature, such as those associated with LGBT people,” he added.

© Agence France-Presse