The prosecutor’s office claimed that the Young LGBTI+ Association engaged in activities that “encourage and encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite or transsexuality”; The court used “designing visuals with trans content” as the reason for the closure.

İzmirYoung LGBTI+ Association operating in , citing social media posts as a reason:obscenityIt was closed with the claim “

According to the news of KAOS GL, in the audits targeting LGBTI+ associations in 2024, the association’s social media accounts were retrospectively examined. Posts on social media were deemed “obscenity” in the inspection report.

After the audit report was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office, an obscenity investigation was launched against the association in February. The decision not to prosecute the investigation opened on the grounds of obscenity became final in August.

Reason: “To encourage and encourage”

Along with the obscenity investigation, a closure case was also filed against the association.

In the closure case, the prosecutor’s office claimed that social media posts were against moral values ​​and the article of the Constitution titled “Protection of the family and children’s rights”:

“The posts in question, in which obscene images are published, are viewed by many people and reach large masses, and these posts can direct the members of the society to behaviors encouraging and encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite, or transsexuality, and these posts are not in compliance with the moral values ​​​​of the society and Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey…”

With this; It was claimed that the association was engaged in activities that were not in accordance with the purposes and working subjects stated in the statute, and that it was in violation of the articles regulating associations in the Turkish Civil Code and the Law on Associations, and it was requested to be closed.

Lawyers demanded rejection of the case

In its defense of the case, the association stated that “the sharing of images that are clearly not obscene and being met with a closure case is a disproportionate intervention”, emphasizing that the case was an intervention against freedom of expression and requested the rejection of the case.

“Designing visuals with trans content” was grounds for closure

As a result of the closure case, Izmir 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to close the association.

In the reasoned decision, the association’s social media accounts “sharing male and female sexual organs, obscene images of people of different genders, and trans content images by designing them or obtaining them from other people.” The following statements were included; These statements were the reason for the closure decision.

It was stated that the association had become unlawful and immoral.

"This decision can neither end our existence nor our determination."

The association said in its statement:

"This decision can neither end our existence nor our determination to fight. It is possible for us to emerge from this process by strengthening not only our association, but also our movement and the human rights movement as a whole. The closure case against our association and other parallel legal processes will not cause us to give up our rights. We will take all legal remedies against this closure decision, which was made by ignoring the Constitution and the international agreements to which Türkiye is a party. We call on the entire public to object to this liquidation movement against the LGBTI+ movement and civil society by the Young LGBTI+ Association, and to fight and show solidarity against this judicial harassment process in an organized manner."