Turkish Court Orders Shutdown of Independent News Site T24 Over LGBT Content
A Turkish court ordered the closure of the independent news website T24 and its social media accounts after the justice ministry accused it of publishing 118 pieces of content classified as 'LGBT propaganda' over the past year. The closure, which took effect on Wednesday afternoon following an order issued on 29 September, coincided with a broader government crackdown on Turkey's LGBTQ community. Journalists' associations and the opposition party Yeni Parti condemned the decision as an attack on press freedom.
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A Turkish court has ordered the closure of the independent news website T24 and its social media accounts, the justice ministry announced, after accusing the outlet of publishing 118 pieces of content it classified as 'LGBT propaganda' over the past year. The order, issued by an Istanbul magistrates court on 29 September, took effect on Wednesday afternoon.
The shutdown followed weeks after Turkish authorities launched a broader crackdown on the LGBTQ community, raiding gay bars, nightclubs and homes with warrants for 162 people as part of an investigation named 'My Family is Safe'. The justice ministry said the court found T24 had published content 'aimed at weakening the Turkish family structure'.
T24's foreign news desk editor, Buse Söğütlü, told AFP the outlet had faced a 'social media harassment campaign' in recent days before the closure. She said the decision amounted to a blow against journalism that extended beyond the site's coverage of LGBTQ issues. The closure drew condemnation from a dozen Turkish journalists' associations and the main opposition party Yeni Parti, whose leader Özgür Özel denounced it as 'repression'.
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