Türkiye - September 2023

The Minister of National Education, Yusuf Tekin, has introduced the ‘Family in Turkish Society’ elective course to schools. The course is explicitly anti-LGBTQIA+ and emphasises the ‘traditional family’ as a core value of Turkish society. The course is offered in the current school year, which started on 11 September. It is the newest addition to a host of measures targeting LGBTQIA+ rights since 2015, including the banning of pride events, the arrest of LGBTQIA+ rights activists, lawyers and journalists and the support of anti-LGBTQIA+ rallies, as the country moves in a more religiously and socially conservative direction.

Sources: T24, Balkan Insight, Human Rights Watch, Voice of America