'Year of the Family' raised with Kaos GL editor Yıldız Tar after arrest in 'NATO operation'

Kaos GL editor Yıldız Tar jailed after questioning over 'Year of the Family' post

A court ordered the arrest of Kaos GL Editor-in-Chief Yıldız Tar on Monday after police questioned him not about NATO, but about his social media post promoting an event critical of the Turkish government's "Year of the Family" initiative.

During questioning, investigators asked Tar why he had shared an announcement for a discussion titled, "Not the Year of the Family, but the Year of Struggle," organized in response to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's declaration of 2025 as the "Year of the Family."

According to the official questioning record, police asked: "Why did you share or make a statement about the discussion to be held under the title 'Not the Year of the Family, but the Year of Struggle' in response to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's declaration of 2025 as the Year of the Family on Jan. 13, 2025? Please explain."

In his defense statement, Tar said Kaos GL is a legally registered association and media outlet recognized by Turkey's Interior Ministry.

"I have written various news reports, interviews, discussions and articles about the Year of the Family policies. All of them are part of my work as a journalist and fall within the scope of freedom of expression," he said.

Tar added that he had never published any news report or article that could be considered terrorist propaganda.

"As a journalist, let alone praising or encouraging terrorism-related crimes, I would never praise or encourage any act of violence," he said. "I practice journalism and write to defend the fundamental rights and freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community, of which I am a member, and to combat prejudice against that community. In my statements, I exercised my right to freedom of expression through criticism."

Tar was also unable to attend a hearing in a separate case related to an investigation into the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), a left-wing umbrella platform, because he was in police custody.

In a message conveyed through his lawyers after questioning, Tar said:

"From what I can tell, every year they seem determined to find a new organization to accuse me of belonging to. Yet both my journalism and my LGBTQ+ activism are completely public. We stopped the 12th Judicial Package from passing, but now it's as if it had passed anyway—they've simply added it to the detention list this time. Our dignity is greater than any legislative package. I thank everyone who has shown solidarity, especially the LGBTQ+ movement, the feminist movement, the human rights movement, and journalism organizations."

What happened?

Among those detained in coordinated pre-dawn raids across Ankara on June 23 were Kaos GL Editor-in-Chief Yıldız Tar, Umut-Sen spokesperson Burcu Arıkan, Halkevleri (People's Houses) Central Executive Board member Hediye Yıldırım, Ankara University associate professor Emel Memiş from the Faculty of Political Sciences' Department of Economics, and Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) members Semra Demir, Kürşat Bafra and Doğa İncesu. Elif Torun Öneren, chair of the Revolutionary Party, was also the subject of a detention order but was not taken into custody due to health reasons.

The operation also targeted volunteers from the TEMA Foundation, one of Turkey's leading environmental organizations. According to information obtained by the news outlet, about 40 volunteers were returning from a trip to the Nallıhan Bird Sanctuary when they saw workers from Doruk Mining marching toward Ankara. The volunteers got off their bus to greet the workers. The bus was later stopped, and the volunteers were subjected to identity checks before being detained.

During police questioning, TEMA volunteers were asked whether they were members of the banned Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), whether they used code names, and whether they had received armed training.