Anti-LGBTQI+ statements by Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made anti-LGBTQI+ comments at a re-election rally in the city of Izmir. 

The 69-year-old leader, who has held the office of president since 2014, stated that “LGBT will not emerge in this country” and urged his supporters to “stand up straight, like a man: that is how our families are”. 

Erdogan’s government and its supporters have increasingly employed anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric in recent years, often citing family values. Last year, the wider community has also demonstrated anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, with a major protest in Istanbul calling for the government to ban what they called “LGBTQ+ propaganda”. 

Twitter has previously flagged tweets by Turkey’s interior minister for hateful conduct after he called young protesters “LGBT+ perverts”.

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